The Bond Between Us
by TheDragon1326
Summary: Young Hiccup never really fit in with the other Vikings. But when he discovers an unknown dragon in the woods, his life is turned around, and he goes on an adventure he never thought he'd take. It's up to Hiccup to decide if it's for better or for worse. AU, set one year before the movie.
1. The Meeting

** Hello FanFiction, and welcome to my first ever story! This story takes place about a year before the movie, and it is an AU! I will (hopefully) update every Sunday, so be on the lookout then! **

**Note: - denotes a time skip**

**Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD. Honestly, I swear!**

**So, without further ado, enjoy!**

* * *

Hiccup ran through the forest as the taunting calls of his peers came from far behind him. It was the same routine every day. They would always make fun of him and chase him out of the village when his father went on raids. But they always put on the 'Good Viking' act whenever he was around. Of course, Hiccup didn't mind the forest. He could spend days in the forest and he would be happy. The only problem was that if he wasn't back by sundown, the village would send a hunting party for him.

Hiccups mind started to drift away, and he slowed to walk, meandering through the trees. His dad had recently sent him to work with Gobber, and Hiccup liked the man. Gobber was always friendly to him, unlike the other teens and some adults. And Hiccup was very good at being a blacksmith. He actually enjoyed it, and it was one of the few things he was actually good at. That wasn't to say that he'd rather be there than in the forest, but it was his favorite place in the village. Hiccup started as his foot caught onto a rock, and he tripped. Of course, with his luck, he was right next to a hill. Hiccup tumbled downhill, rocks scratching him and leaves crunching under his moving body. He slowly came to a stop as the ground leveled out, and with a groan he got up. Hiccup glanced around. This was not a part of the forest he was familiar with. He quickly checked his pockets to make sure his sketchbook was still there, before looking back up the hill. Hiccup saw that it was a lot steeper than he previously thought, resembling more of a bluff than a hill. He seriously doubted that he could climb back up. Sighing, Hiccup turned and started to walk alongside the bluff, hoping he would find a way to get back up.

Hiccup kicked another branch as he grumbled to himself. He was hopelessly lost. He hadn't found a way back up the 'cursed hill' as he so affectionately named it, so he thought it would be a good idea to go out a little to see if he could recognize anything. Obviously, he went in a little deeper than he wanted to, and now he couldn't find his way back. He would simply have to wait for the hunting party. Hiccup rounded a particularly large rock, before seeing a small entrance into what appeared to be a cove. He walked into it, ducking under a root, and gasped at the sight that met his eyes.

The place was beautiful. Sunlight reflected off a small lake that dominated most of the cove, casting moving shapes of light on the steep walls that surrounded the cove. There was a small patch of trees next to it, as well as a few vines hanging down from the edges, giving the cove a peaceful and serene feeling. A few birds flew out from the trees, chirping as they passed him. Hiccup looked around the small rock that he was standing on, his eyes drinking in the beautiful sight. Hiccup wanted a closer look, but the only way down seemed to be a large group of rocks precariously stacked on top of each other. He slowly navigated his way down the treacherous pile of rocks, constantly worrying if he was going to fall, and finally reached the bottom, exiting out another small passageway.

The view from the ground was even more astounding. The steep cliffs surrounding the cove gave him a sheltered and protected feeling, while the sunlight now on his face made him warm. Hiccup couldn't help but smile and let out a gleeful shout. He ran to the waters edge, peering in. Most of the fish swam away at his sight, but one stayed, unaware of his presence. Hiccup watched the fish a little longer before it seemed to notice him and darted out of sight. Hiccup turned around slowly, letting the incredible view sink in. But he abruptly stopped when something caught his eye. There, previously unseen, was a large black mass, directly underneath a small canopy the cluster of trees formed.

Hiccup though it might be a dragon, but it didn't look like any dragon he'd ever seen. It was long and sleek with glossy black scales. It had large wings, yet it was lacking horns. It had a pair of fins at the base and at the end of its tail. And it appeared to be sleeping. Hiccup's first thought was to run. This was a creature his dad had told him about. His dad had told him about their ferocity, how they would kill you without a second glance. How they would happily rip you to shreds and drink your blood for no reason other than their personal enjoyment. He recalled the stories of their emotionless eyes, the stories about how Gobber lost his leg. But worst of all, he remembered the story of how his mother lost her life.

However this beast looked nothing like that. In fact, now that he thought about it, it didn't look like any dragon he had ever seen, or that any of the villagers had ever described to him. Hiccup took out his sketchbook, excited. Maybe this was a new species of dragon. He would be the first to find out about it, and he would tell everybody about it, just like Bork the Bold. His village would praise him, and the teens would no longer call him 'Hiccup the Useless'. But more importantly, his dad would finally be proud of him. Hiccup's heart leapt at that thought, and a smile slowly made its way onto his face.

Hiccup started to draw, intent on documenting everything about this creature. He didn't need to look at the dragon again. He had an excellent memory, and could recall every detail about the dragon. Hiccup's mind slowly shut out everything, concentrating on nothing except his mental picture of the dragon and the paper before him. That was one of his great flaws, although sometimes it was a blessing. When he devoted himself to something, he completely focused on his task. And this was why he didn't notice the dragon waking up. And why he didn't notice the dragon walking over to him. The only thing that registered to Hiccup was the sound of his charcoal stick scratching against the paper of his sketchbook and the drawing that was slowly taking form. That is, until he felt hot breath brush against him, moving the pages of his book slightly. Hiccup's heart stopped, and with it his hand. He slowly looked up, wincing at the sight that met his eyes, telling himself not to move.

There above him, was the dragon that he was drawing. It looked down at him, its eyes slits, a small growl coming from it. It emitted another breath, and Hiccup gagged at the rancid smell that came from the beast. Hiccup quickly started to back away. The beast snorted again, before it reached out with a paw and pushed Hiccup into the ground. Hiccup gasped as his head slammed into the ground with a great force. The dragon leaned over him, staring at him. Hiccup struggled, looking around frantically for something to use, anything, before his eyes made contact with the dragons. In its deep green eyes, Hiccup saw something he didn't expect.

Hiccup saw emotion. He saw curiosity at this human that stumbled across him, and didn't kill him, yet instead, drew him. He didn't see rage, or malevolence, or anything that indicated that the dragon wanted to kill him. But the strangest thing he saw was compassion. The dragon seemed to take an interest in him, and seemed to see that he was different than the other Vikings.

Hiccups struggles slowly died down, and when they did the dragon sniffed him once, before removing its paw from him and walking away. Hiccup got up shakily, not quite believing what was happening. A dragon, out of all things, had the opportunity to kill him, and it didn't. Surely this wasn't one of the creatures of the night his father described. The cold, heartless killers that destroyed his village on a monthly basis. But there was no denying it. A dragon had spared his life. Hiccup stared in wonder at the dragon, which was now searching for fish in the lake. Hiccup shakily picked up his sketchbook, and cautiously approached the dragon. He watched in wonder as it expertly caught a fish and swallowed it whole. As the dragon opened his mouth to catch another fish, he saw something that made him pause.

"Toothless? Why wouldn't a dragon have any teeth?" Hiccup wondered aloud.

The dragon turned towards him, regarding him with those green eyes, before it started walking towards him. Hiccup quickly backed up, fearful that he had done something wrong. Was the dragon offended by his comment? Did it decide that it didn't want a pesky human around? The dragon quickly caught up to him and placed a paw on him, throwing him onto the ground for the second time that day. Hiccup's breath came in short gasps, and he started fearfully up at the dragon. The dragon's throat started to undulate, and it made a sound similar to one that Snotlout had made right before hacking up a giant wad of spit and fired it. Right at his head.

The dragon opened its mouth and a fish came sliding out. Hiccup scrunched up his face in disgust. 'I would rather take the spit' Hiccup though. The dragon lifted its paw and then… sat? Yes, it appeared to be sitting on its hind legs, and was now staring at him. Hiccup gulped nervously. Surely it didn't expect him to eat the fish, did it? But when the dragon looked down at the fish then back at him, Hiccup knew what the dragon wanted. And he also knew that he was not going to like it. With a sigh, he brought the fish to his mouth and bit down. The taste wasn't as bad as the smell, but it was enough to almost make him throw up right there. By sheer force of will, however, he was able to stop himself. He hesitantly swallowed the piece of fish, shuddering as he felt it slide down his throat. He looked at the dragon, and it made a smacking sound with its lips. Hiccup smiled up at the dragon, not daring to voice his thoughts on how cute the dragon looked right now. The dragon cocked its head for a second, then began to imitate him, its lips slowly pulling back into what was definitely a smile, or as close as it could get to one. There again, Hiccup noticed, weren't any teeth. He stared at the dragon a little more, before its smile disappeared and it motioned at him and the fish again.

"Ohhh no, no no no, not again." Hiccup said with a grimace. He would NOT be eating that fish again, however the dragon had other plans in mind. It did that toothless smile again, and Hiccup had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Something was about to happen, and he knew that it was going to be a lot worse than the first time. The dragon pounced quickly, and for the third time that day he was pushed to the ground none too gently. Hiccup groaned in pain. He was going to have pain there for days to come. He kept his eyes closed, mentally fighting the pain until he felt something slimy slide across his face. He opened his eyes and the dragon was there above him, with the regurgitated fish dangling from its mouth. It lowered the fish closer to his face, and Hiccup squirmed, trying to get away from that horrible smell. The dragon kept the fish dangling there, until Hiccup gave a small hiss through his teeth, admitting defeat. The dragon was clearly not going to let him go until he ate it.

He slowly opened his mouth, bracing himself for what was to come, and he felt the fish drop into his mouth. He forced himself to chew and swallow the remains, resisting the urge to gag. He looked up at the dragon again, who was smiling yet again. "Yeah yeah, you got what you wanted, you pushy reptile." Hiccup looked at the dragon for a little bit, before curiosity overtook him and he reached up an arm. The dragon flinched at the movement, growling slightly. Hiccup retreated his arm. He closed his eyes, knowing this was probably the stupidest thing he would ever do. He slowly reached out his hand again, with his eyes closed and head turned to the side. He heard no warning growl, or any sound from the dragon, but after what seemed like eternity he did feel the smooth scales come into contact with his hand. Hiccup let out a small gasp, and risked a glance at the dragon. It looked so peaceful, before it opened its eyes and looked at him. Hiccup gave a smile and the dragon slowly returned it. That was when Hiccup's gaze shifted and he noticed the sky.

"Oh dang it, Gobber's going to kill me!" Hiccup said as he looked at the pink sky, a warning to all that the sun would soon vanish from the earth. And that was also when he remembered he didn't know how to get back home. Hiccup would have smacked himself, if he could move freely. Hiccup looked back towards the dragon and said, "I'll be back tomorrow, ok? Don't go anywhere."

The dragon huffed, before lifting its paw from him and walking towards the other side of the cove. It breathed some fire into the ground, creating a pile of ashes, while Hiccup watched in fascination at this strange behavior. The dragon settled down and looked at him as if to say 'aren't you supposed to be going somewhere?' Hiccup mentally shook himself before turning and jogging back to the entrance of the rocks. He looked once more at the dragon, which had now closed its eyes and appeared to be sleeping. He smiled as he started climbing back up the rocks. He knew where he was going to be tomorrow.


	2. New Experiences

**Wow, I never realized how much of an ego boost a single follow is, but 12? Thank you!**

**GoDoFbIrD: Don't worry, I plan to see this story through! It annoys me as well when people go 'On Hiatus' or discontinue.**

**And since I forgot this in the last chapter, disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD. I wish I did, but I don't.**

* * *

The next few weeks fell into a routine. He would eat his breakfast quickly, and then disappear into the forest. Nobody really minded the fact that he wasn't around most of the day. In fact, many of them felt a lot safer without 'Hiccup the Useless' around. And Hiccup didn't mind it either. He never liked being in the village, preferring to spend time by himself crafting new projects or drawing whatever caught his attention.

He would bring the dragon, which he had named Toothless, half a basket of fish whenever he visited, often having to do some fishing himself to sate Toothless' hunger. Hiccup would have sworn that the dragon couldn't be satisfied. Toothless always seemed hungry. Not to mention that the dragon was picky as well. Once Hiccup had accidentally brought a basket that had an eel in it. Toothless had gone berserk, backing up wildly and hissing menacingly at the pile of fish. Hiccup barely managed to calm him down, throwing the eel a safe distance away and making a mental note about this strange aversion.

The few days that Toothless was not in the cove when Hiccup got there, for whatever reason, he would wait. He often sketched Toothless, studying how the dragon flew. It appeared that the tail fins were vital in steering and stabilizing the dragon. Without them Toothless would tumble out of control. The base fins mainly functioned as stabilizers and speed control. They made sure that Toothless didn't tilt when he didn't want to and also helped him slow down. Hiccup also noticed that Toothless' bolts didn't seem as powerful when he wasn't flying. Hiccup decided to investigate that matter at a later time.

Hiccup would often stay in the cove until just before twilight, and then he would head back to the village while Toothless either disappeared to Odin knows where, or slept in the cove. Everything went smoothly until his father returned from his hunt. They had failed, which didn't surprise anybody. The strange mist surrounding the nest was the problem. It was impossible to navigate in the mist, the monotonous color of the rocks confusing the helmsman. They would either find themselves back out at Helheim's Gate, or lost in the mist, never to be found again. Anybody else would have given up, or even left in search of a safer place. But then again, these are Vikings. They aren't the smartest people, and they're quite stubborn as well. Especially his father, which was why he was almost constantly searching for the nest. Hiccup didn't mind it too much, although sometimes he did miss his father.

But when his father came home, he had to be much more careful. He was certain his dad would care a lot more than the other villagers about his strange new schedule. Hiccup still managed to visit Toothless everyday, although it was harder to sneak away from his father. He also started spending less time at the forge, but somehow managed to pop in daily to make detailed sketches of Toothless. He wasn't too worried about anyone going in and seeing the drawings. Gobber knew that was his personal area and wouldn't dare enter it or let anyone else in.

However, as the days became weeks, and weeks turned into months, Hiccup learned more and more about Toothless, growing closer to him in the process. He learned about how interested Toothless was in reflected light, and also found out about a sweet spot under his neck. Then, about 3 months after Hiccup found Toothless, Toothless had bent down a little in front of Hiccup. Hiccup didn't understand what Toothless wanted, until the dragon gestured towards its back with his head. Hiccup was ecstatic. He was actually going to ride a dragon! Hiccup often looked at the sky forlornly, wishing he could just fly away, touch the clouds, and leave Berk and find a better place. He would never forget that first flight. It was nothing like he had though it would be. After he had climbed onto Toothless' back, they took off.

Toothless went slow, Hiccup not used to the feeling of a dragon beneath him. They did a gentle flight around the island, and when Hiccup saw his village he couldn't help but smile. It was incredible. The gentle rays of the slowly fading sun were casting long shadows, covering parts of the village in darkness. He could faintly see some villagers walking about, completely unaware of the beast flying high above them. His eyes found his house, sitting above all the other homes like a sentinel. Hiccup's eyes traced down through the plaza to the forge. He could faintly make out wisps of smoke coming from there, rising a little before quickly dispersing into the air. It was all so amazing. He had relaxed during the flight back to the cove, simply enjoying the gentle brush of the wind against his face, watching as the sun slowly made its way down towards the horizon, turning the sky and the clouds a vibrant pink color. Toothless slowly rose up, getting close enough to the clouds that Hiccup was able to touch them. Tentatively, he reached out a hand, laughing as his hand passed through it. After he pulled his hand back, he noticed it was slightly wet from the vapor. Hiccup chuckled at this, wiping his hands on his shirt. When they landed, the sun was throwing its last rays of sunlight into the cove before disappearing below the horizon and casting the island of Berk into darkness. Hiccup knew he had to get back soon, or else the village would come looking for him.

"Bye Toothless, I have to go back now. Thanks for the ride, bud." Hiccup said. Toothless grumbled a little, before licking his face. Hiccup laughed, managing to say, "Stop that!" Toothless moved away a little, his face in that comforting toothless smile. Hiccup returned the smile, before patting Toothless' nose "Don't worry you big reptile, I'll be back tomorrow." Toothless gave a purr, nudging Hiccups shoulder a little in a protective gesture. Hiccup rolled his eyes, his grin widening, "Wow, I never knew you were so protective, Toothless." Hiccup chuckled, gently scratching behind Toothless' ear. Toothless growled in pleasure, leaning into the scratch slightly. Hiccup stopped, and when Toothless looked over at him Hiccup said, "I'll be fine, don't worry." Toothless snorted in disbelief, and Hiccup gently swatted Toothless' nose, muttering something about a 'faithless dragon'. Toothless cooed, and nudged Hiccup again, this time urging him to hurry home. Hiccup threw one last glance back at the dragon, smiling as he did so, before turning and running through the forest.

* * *

**I feel like I butchered the first flight scene. Tell me what you think of the story so far, as any and all reviews are appreciated. I might increase the update times to Sunday and Thursday, because it does get a lot more intense in the next chapter. **

**But, until next time, enjoy!**


	3. Discoveries

**What? I'm posting a new chapter, and it's not on a Sunday? Well, I'll be going on a train trip to Chicago, and it'll last until Wednesday, so I decided it would be better to post the chapter sooner than later!**

**The Magnetic Witch: I'll try to add more detail, although I'm pushing myself already. I never was too good at detail, however I am working on it! Also, I'll try to make the chapters longer, but no guarantees.  
**

**On to the story. This chapter is quite intense, so keep all arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. HAVE FUN!**

* * *

Astrid was not in a good mood, her normally bright blue eyes full of rage. She had sprained her wrist when she was practicing with her axe, had said axe go blunt, and had Snotlout flirt with her for the hundredth time that day. All this combined to make one very disagreeable Astrid. And, just as Astrid was thinking that this day couldn't get any worse, the forge came into view. The gods must have been playing some cruel joke on her, because there was no sound coming from the usually noisy forge. As Astrid neared, she also noticed there wasn't any heat in the air around the forge. Astrid stepped inside and groaned in disappointment. Neither Gobber nor Hiccup was in the forge. Hiccup seemed to be awfully busy lately, she mused. Astrid walked further into the forge, looking around for the grindstone. While she could grind her own weapons, she wasn't the best at it and much preferred to have someone with more expertise do it.

Astrid finally noticed the grindstone sitting in the corner of the forge, near Hiccups small workshop. As Astrid made her way over towards the grindstone, a small gust of wind ran through the forge and a single piece of paper flew out from Hiccups workshop. Astrid bent over and picked it up, slightly curious. On it was a drawing of her. Astrid couldn't help but stare at the skill at which the drawing was done. Every detail, down to the way her hair covered part of her eye, was masterfully captured.

Astrid looked up towards the leather curtain and slowly pushed it aside, looking around inside. There wasn't much. There was a desk to the left with a bookshelf to the left of that. There were drawings on the wall. A small pang of guilt ran through Astrid for intruding, but she pushed it aside, telling herself she was simply returning the paper to where it was. Astrid moved towards the desk, looking at the drawings. There were a few drawings of Astrid, but the one the caught Astrid's eye was one that appeared fairly recent. It was an overhead drawing of the village at sunset. Astrid could see every single house, the faint wisps of smoke coming from the forge, even the small figures of the people and the shadows they cast.

Astrid never knew that Hiccup could draw this well. She placed the drawing of her on the desk moved aside some more of the drawings, gasping at what she saw. There, on the paper, was a dragon. It dominated most of the paper, with a rock wall behind it. It was looking out of the paper right at Astrid. When Astrid looked at the eyes, she didn't see the raging fire that most dragons had in their eyes, but Hiccup had managed to make the dragon look…nice?

Astrid pushed aside more pictures, and all of them had the same dragon, in various poses, but all in the same setting, what appeared to be a cove with a large lake and a small cluster of trees. There was one with the dragon fishing in the lake, one with the dragon landing, one with it…eating out of a basket. Astrid's heart seemed to stop. Why was Hiccup continually drawing this dragon, one that, she now realized, she had never seen before in the Dragon Manual, and she doubted it was in there. Maybe Hiccup had an overactive imagination? But that brought up the question of why this dragon, and why there weren't any other imaginary dragons. Astrid grabbed a few of the pictures, and hurried out of the forge, her axe forgotten. She needed to see Fishlegs, and then the Chief. Something was definitely wrong.

* * *

Hiccup gasped for breath as he finally saw the village come into view. He had gotten back a lot later than he would have liked, but he never had the greatest stamina. Or the greatest strength, skill, grace, the list went on. Hiccup prayed to every god he knew that his father would be asleep as he slowly opened the door to his house. When he saw his father sitting on a bench, stoking the fire, he let out a silent curse, and silently closed the door. He glanced at his father, and slowly skulked behind him. He was close to the stairs, and he was certain he was going to make it, until his father said, "Hiccup."

Hiccup shut his eyes. He hadn't even made it onto the first step. "Dad, hey." Hiccup replied.

"There's something I need to talk to you about." Hiccup's heart plummeted. His dad's voice was low, and he only took on that voice when something bad had happened. But then again, most conversations with his dad involved 'that' tone.

"Yeah, sure Dad, what do you need?"

"I was hoping that you could explain this."

Hiccup nearly fainted as he saw what his dad was holding up. It was a drawing of Toothless. Had he left one in his room? No, all of his drawings were in his workshop. His workshop…

"Ah, uh, what's that?" Hiccup said, trying to feign ignorance.

"Don't play games with me, son, I want to know what this is."

"I, uh, a dragon?"

"Yes, I can see that, but why are you drawing a dragon, of all things!?"

"Because of…" Hiccups voice slowly trailed off, his mind frantically trying to come up with some excuse to give his dad. As his mind reached multiple dead ends, he found himself in a dilemma. Either lie to his father, or risk the death of Toothless. Hiccup knew without a doubt which he would choose. "Because of, my imagination! Yes, I've been thinking, about, dragons, and new species!"

Stoic simply looked at his son for a moment before holding up another picture "And what about this one?" He asked, his voice almost unheard.

Hiccup's breath caught, as he realized which picture he was looking at. It was the one that he had spent nearly 20 minutes on. He had focused on the eyes, wanting to capture the emotion in Toothless' eyes. It was the one where Toothless was looking right at the viewer. Hiccup's mouth moved up and down, desperately trying to come up with some excuse but nothing coming to mind. As his eyes slowly fell to the floor, Stoic's eyes drifted back to the fire. "That's what I thought." Stoic whispered. Hiccup was on the verge of tears. His dad knew about Toothless, he had lied to his dad, and now Toothless was probably going to die.

"Please dad…" Hiccup started to say

"NO!" Stoic shouted. Stoic paused a moment, before continuing, "How could you do this Hiccup. You always wanted to kill a dragon, and now this? Why?"

Hiccup couldn't respond, tears trickling down his face. Stoic sighed and said, "We'll send out a search party tomorrow. And you're going to lead us there."

Hiccup was shocked. All he could hear was those final words. They rang in his head, whispering promises of death to him. He numbly turned and walked up the stairs and went into his room, the tears running freely down his face now. He hardly noticed as he walked towards his bed, unable to think clearly. His mind didn't register getting into bed either, and he stared blankly up at the ceiling, only thinking about Toothless, and wondering if he would be safe.

* * *

**I personally hated this chapter. To me it feels...wrong, or something just isn't right. I can't quite put my finger on it. However, if you can see what I did wrong (or right? :D) then please feel free to tell me! And this is obviously done by pressing that little button down there that says 'Review'. To quote: Totally not suggesting anything... :P**

**But the next chapter I feel like you guys will kill me for it, because it will contain the biggest cliffhanger in the story. More info on that in the A/N of the next chapter.**

**I would like to thank everyone who clicked the 'Favorite' and/or the 'Follow' button. I never knew how happy that can make you feel until now.**

**See you next Sunday, or maybe even sooner! :D**


	4. Sacrifices

**Back on the normal schedule at last! On the nerdy topic, who else was excited for the MLG? Personally I watched StarCraft 2 the whole way through and I was cheering for MC and Rain, and was really let down when Life came through 3-0.**

**Moving away from that, Chicago was great!**

**Anyways, I'll be in hiding for the next few days, and by the end of the chapter you'll know why.**

**And on a ****_completely _****unrelated note, Cookie-the-Rookie and I.F.T.S will be a lot angrier at Astrid by the end of the chapter.**

**Yep. Completely unrelated...**

**Anyways, enjoy (or not *nervous smile*)!**

* * *

The entire village was abuzz. Everybody was talking about what Stoick had announced earlier that day. He had gathered everybody in the Mead Hall and stated that Hiccup had actually managed to track down the elusive Night Fury. Nobody would have believed it if it hadn't come from the Chief. It was astounding to think that the screw-up had managed to actually accomplish something that benefited the village. The Chief had then went on and told everybody that they would organize a search party for it later and go hunting for it.

"…ASTRID!" Astrid's head jerked up as she brought herself back to reality. Ruffnut punched her hard in the shoulder, saying, "You were ignoring me again weren't you?"

Astrid rolled her eyes at this, replying, "No I was not, I was simply…thinking."

Ruffnut laughed at this, "About the Night Fury? Pretty exciting stuff, right? I hope I'm the one that gets to deliver the killing blow!"

"Yeah, like that's going to happen. You know they're going to let the Incredible Killing Machine take the honor and kill it." Tuffnut said confidently.

It was now Ruffnut's turn to roll her eyes, although before she could reply to the comment Fishlegs interjected with "I'm actually pretty sure they're going to let Hiccup kill it."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut groaned at the same time, while Snotlout said "I doubt that fishbone has it in him. He couldn't even clean that sheep's skin!" The groans from the twins turned into giggles as they remembered the time Hiccup had visited the tannery in search of an apprenticeship. It had ended with a mess on the floor and Hiccup's schedule full for the next couple of days.

Astrid didn't even bother looking towards the group, her attention now focused on the village's 'marketplace' where the villagers were gathering. The hunt was going to be very soon. It was approaching midday, meaning there would be fewer shadows for the Night Fury to hide in. "It doesn't matter one way or the other, so long as the beast is dead." With that said, Astrid started to move quickly up the hill, and the rest of the teens followed.

Fishlegs' eyes lit up, and he quickly started rambling on about how they would finally be able to see a Night Fury and started to guess at what it looked like, if it had any other special attacks besides its plasma bolt, how fast it could fly, and hundreds of other things before Snotlout grew irritated and growled at him "Would you please shut up, you're ruining a perfectly good moment." Fishlegs instantly stopped and looked down at the ground, afraid of pushing Snotlout any further.

The teens had now arrived at where the rest of the villagers were, and everybody started to cheer as Stoick came out of his house, Hiccup beside him. As they slowly made their way through the parting crowd, nobody seemed to notice the stern look in Stoick's eyes. And nobody seemed to notice the way Hiccup's eyes looked dead, as if all hope had left that fragile body and there was no longer any will to fight, or do anything. Nobody, that is, except Astrid. She carefully watched Hiccup, hundreds of questions bouncing around. Why did he appear so forlorn? Did he actually care for the beast? The drawings seemed to show it, but the very notion of a Viking and a dragon working together was laughable and insane.

Stoick finally reached the edge of the crowd, and as he did so everybody instantly fell silent. Stoick glanced at Hiccup, before looking at the crowd. He took a breath, and started "In the 300 years that Vikings have been on Berk, we have seen and fought a variety of dragons. The Monstrous Nightmare, the Gronckle, the Nadder, and many others. But there was always one dragon that eluded us all. It was the mystical Night Fury, the offspring of lightning and death itself. Nobody has ever tracked or even seen a Night Fury. That is, until today. Because now, we go hunting for the Night Fury that my son has bravely sought after and watched. Today, we go and destroy the menace that has terrorized our village for centuries. Today, we fight. And today, we celebrate my son's achievement!" With those final few words, Stoick raised his axe, and the entire village cheered, waving their weapons around. Ruffnut glanced at Tuffnut and smiled, high-fiving him. Snotlout gave a smug glance at anyone who tried to make eye contact and Fishlegs was bouncing on his feet in anticipation. But Astrid stood rigidly, watching Hiccup, wondering why he didn't seem happy. Maybe the Night Fury could influence the mind, like the Changewing?

The village spread out throughout the forest in a line, slowly moving away from the village. Stoick and Hiccup were near the middle of the line, while Astrid was nearby. Snotlout and Fishlegs were further to the left, and the twins were bordering at the edge of the line. Time passed slowly, only the occasional call from the Vikings to establish their position broke the monotone sound of feet crunching the leaves that were falling from the fast-approaching winter. After what seemed to be an hour and many false alarms, one of the Vikings passed on the word that he had found something. Hiccup's heart plummeted, as he realized the Viking had probably found the cove where he and Toothless would spend most afternoons. It was certainly the proper distance away. His father nudged him and gestured for Astrid to follow as well. Hiccup trudged on behind him, his heart filling with more and more dread as he started to recognize certain landmarks. He and his father quickly reached the Viking who had discovered the cove. Hiccup recognized him as Kalf, one of the fishermen of the island. Kalf gestured for the chief to come closer, and they slowly approached the rim of the cove. As they looked in, Hiccup sent a silent thanks to the gods when he couldn't see Toothless, hoping he had left. But they could still see the signs that he had resided here, and that would invigorate them. There were scorch marks in the ground that Toothless often made before sleeping, a few trees had scratch marks in them, and there were a few broken branches from others scattered around on the ground.

Stoick looked around with a critical eye before saying, "We're going down." Kalf led the way, with Stoick, Hiccup, and Astrid following. They carefully climbed down the rocks before exiting into the cove. On the rim Hiccup could see some of the villagers with bows in hand, stationed in case Toothless decided to make an appearance. Stoick immediately made his way over to the scorch marks, before looking up and calling for Fishlegs. It seemed even the chief acknowledged that Fishlegs had the most extensive knowledge about dragons, Hiccup amusedly thought. Word was passed and Fishlegs quickly made his way over, a grin on his face. Stoick pointed at the coals and asked, "What is this for?"

Fishlegs studied the coals for a bit before stating, "It appears that the Night Fury does this to maintain its body temperature. Dragons have a fairly high inside temperature, and while they are resistant to the cold, they occasionally have to 'recharge' their heat. This seems to be an improvised way of doing so." Fishlegs continued to mutter to himself, but Stoick ignored him, starting towards the trees. He had barely gotten halfway there when a loud growl ripped throughout the cove. The archers quickly readied their bows, Fishlegs stopped his rambling, and Hiccup felt all the color leave his face. _No, please gods, no._

There was a moment of absolute silence, before a black, triangular head emerged from the shadows. A few gasps were heard, particularly from Fishlegs, who had taken out his book and was furiously writing down everything he could observe about the mystical Night Fury. Astrid took her axe into her hands, ready to throw at a moments notice. Stoick held his hammer in his right hand, his left hand clenching into a fist. Kalf, while a fisherman, was still trained how to fight and held his spear in front of him, eyeing Toothless.

Stoick started to advance, and Toothless let out another growl. Stoick paused before ignoring the warning and picking up his pace, breaking into a jog and letting out a battle cry, both hands now on his hammer. Toothless bounded across the remaining distance quickly and slammed into Stoick, knocking him down into the ground. The archers quickly fired their arrows, but Toothless jumped off Stoick and was able to evade most of them. One, however, found its target and buried into Toothless' side. Toothless let out a cry of pain. Astrid, seeing an opening, pulled back her axe, and started to bring it forward, while Hiccup simultaneously cried out "NO!" and ran towards Toothless.

Astrid saw Hiccup running between her and the Night Fury, but her hand had already let go of the axe. Time seemed to slow for Hiccup; he saw each rotation of the axe, the fading sunlight glinting off the metal edge as it slowly made its way towards him. He saw the look of horror in Astrid's eyes, the rage in Stoick's, and the confusion in Fishlegs'. But he didn't care at that moment, his mind not considering it important. He couldn't let Toothless die. Toothless, the one who had showed him what true friendship was, and the only one who cared about him. Toothless, the only one who had ever accepted him and not the façade he had to put on whenever he was in the village. He watched the gleaming edge of death spin towards him, burying itself deep into his chest. He could hear the snapping of his own ribs, could see the droplets of blood fly away, and felt the wind as the force of the blow blew him back, yet he felt no pain. He only felt acceptance as the darkness closed in on him, and stole the life away from him.

* * *

**Please don't kill me! I know I seem like a heartless person right now, but all I can say is that Hiccup isn't done for yet!**

**Anyways, reviews help, and I'll make a reappearance next Sunday, or who knows, maybe I'll start bi-weekly updates! :P**


	5. Revelations

**Yay for another chapter! I would have uploaded this on Thursday, but more stuff came up, namely a wedding taking up the entire weekend except for Sunday, meaning I wouldn't have been able to write a chapter, let alone upload today. So I decided to stick with the regular timing.**

**On to the review-review!**

**Prizeyou know: Thank you for that amazing review! :D I don't know what to say, other than I will work on adding some more detail. I won't do entire paragraphs on what Hiccup is eating, but I will work on explaining things a bit more.**

**Stinkyfish98: I've been waiting for this for a while *Rubs hands together while grinning mischievously* I concede that my detail is nothing to brag about, and I am trying to work on it. However, I want to argue your second point, the fact that Hiccup was "OOC". My reason for this was because of shock. In the movie, after Stoick disowns Hiccup, he didn't follow his dad and keep trying to convince him. Heck, he didn't try to do anything while Toothless was being chained and dragged off. We don't know how long he stood there on that platform, and it took Astrid's forced self-reflection to snap him out of it and come up with a plan. I see it similar to that. Hiccup's mind was in overdrive from the fact that his father had somehow found out about Toothless, and the fact that his best friend was going to die. Oh, and it's ok that you laughed.**

**Well, I've forgotten to do this for a while, haven't I? Disclaimer: Honestly, why would I be writing fanfiction if I owned it? I would rather be working on the second movie!**

**Anyways... can't think of much else to say, so read on!**

* * *

Toothless watched in horror as the axe hit Hiccup square in the chest, making a loud crunch. Everybody stood stock still, not quite believing what they were witnessing. Silence reigned throughout the cove, not even the birds made a sound. The unbearable quiet stayed for a few seconds until Stoick made a strangled cry of grief and ran towards his son. Toothless jumped between him and Hiccup, snarling at him. He would not let any of these people, who had made his Hiccup feel so alone, anywhere near him. Stoick reeled back at the ferocity contained in the growl. This act seemed to bring everybody back into reality, and the archers started to load their bows with another round of arrows. Toothless noticed and quickly spun towards them, releasing a plasma bolt at the rock beneath their feet.

As the plasma bolt exploded, the rock gave way, crumbling beneath the archer's feet. The villagers were temporarily distracted, and Toothless took this moment to grab Hiccup in his now toothless mouth and flapped his wings furiously, lifting himself off the ground. Stoick let out a roar of anger and grabbed his hammer, chasing after Toothless. However, Toothless was already speeding away out of the cove, quickly disappearing into the distance. Stoick slowed to a stop, watching as the final remnant of his family disappeared.

The hammer dropped to the ground with a loud THUNK and tears started to form in his eyes. The village was silent, watching Stoick. Astrid slowly approached the still form of her Chief. She stopped a few feet back, looking at him nervously. When Valhallarama died, Stoick had slipped into a state of depression, hardly coming out of his home. And now that he had lost his only son, Astrid could hardly bear to think what would happen to the Chief now. As time passed, the villagers started to leave, but Astrid stood by Stoick, who had not moved from his position. She could faintly see his body shuddering as he sobbed quietly. As dusk was falling, all the villagers had left, leaving only Astrid and Stoick. Astrid threw one last glance at Stoick, bowed her head slightly and turned to leave. "Astrid," Stoick said, his voice heavy with sorrow.

Astrid stopped, looking back, and replied, "Yes, Chief?"

Stoick paused for a moment, looking up at the sky, and a single word slipped through his lips, "Why?"

Astrid slowly walked back to the Chief, standing by him, and said honestly, "I don't know. Hiccup was a…screw up, to say the least," Astrid cast a glance at the Chief to see how he would react, but when no emotion showed she continued "but I didn't think he would do something so crazy or stupid as to take the side of a dragon."

Stoick looked down at the ground and heaved a sigh, and softly whispered "Thank you Astrid, you may leave now."

Astrid nodded her head, looked up at the sky once more, before turning and heading back towards the village.

Hiccup groaned slightly as his mind was slowly brought to consciousness. He opened his eyes, and quickly shut them as a white light like he had never seen before pierced his eyes. He cautiously squinted, letting his eyes slowly adjust, before looking around. The first thing he noticed was that everywhere he looked, he saw white. His mind, still not fully functioning, caught up slowly. He threw himself back down and muttered, "I knew it. I knew it was too good to be true. I'm dead."

Hiccup started as a deep voice he had never heard before chuckled and said, "Not quite, young Hiccup." Hiccup glanced up and saw an old man in a long cloak, with a white beard reaching his chest, a hat that sat lopsidedly on his head. However the most noticeable part about him was the fact that he only had one eye. Hiccup's mouth dropped, his heart rate increasing exponentially. He stared at the man, who laughed again. "My dear Hiccup, have you forgotten how to speak?"

Hiccup found his voice quite quickly, stammering out, "N-no sir, I was just…ah…I'm…and…you're…" Hiccup reddened from embarrassment as his voice failed him once again.

The man looked down at Hiccup with amusement. "I'm Odin? Yes, you've gathered that much it seems. But to answer your earlier statement, you are not dead quite yet. You're hovering at the edge of it, however I still have plans for you yet, and you will not die." Hiccup heard the unsaid 'yet'.

Hiccup cleared his throat, forcing his mouth to work, before asking, "And what about Toothless, sir? Is he…ok?"

Odin didn't seem too surprised at the question, and replied, "Yes, your dragon is fine. He managed to get away, with you, I might add, and he's now flying to…well, if I told you, it would ruin the surprise!" Odin laughed at this, before looking back down at Hiccup "Well, Hiccup, I believe we've talked long enough. I have things to attend to, and it's time for you to return to your world. But don't think you'll wake up right away!" Odin gave Hiccup a grin, and then walked off.

As Odin disappeared into the distance, Hiccup's vision grew darker. Hiccup silently sighed, knowing that no matter how much he tried he would not get any more answers from the god. He let the darkness take him once more, carrying his life back to his own world.

Toothless squinted through the snow, trying to see exactly where they were. He had been flying for a couple of hours at least, and dusk was fast approaching. Toothless knew that the island had to be close by. Perhaps he missed it? No, he knew this was the right way to go. He started to curse Berk for having such unpredictable weather. He knew Hiccup didn't have much time, and this snowstorm that had came out of nowhere was not helping at all.

Toothless sped up slightly as he saw a dark mass start to appear ahead, and refrained himself from roaring in joy as he saw the island he had been seeking this entire time. It was smaller than Berk, but some features were similar. A mountain dominated the center of the island, this one much smaller. At its base a large forest rested, stretching out towards the edges of the island, with hills interspersed throughout, providing a wide variety of game. A single river wound its way through the forest, forming a lake on the northernmost side of the mountain, before exiting out into the sea by the northeastern peninsula, basically dividing the island into two. There were a few inlets scattered here and there, all of them navigable and all of them providing access to the forest.

It was at one of these inlets that Toothless landed, laying Hiccup down on the sand by the water. Toothless collected a few branches like he had seen Hiccup do, and lit them with a small blast of fire. Toothless had noticed Hiccup always did this when they lounged in the cove, and assumed that, unlike dragons, Hiccup had no inner fire to warm him up. Toothless, satisfied Hiccup wouldn't freeze, trotted over to the water. He caught a few fish and quickly ate them, sating his hunger. He looked back towards Hiccup, and then up at the mountain. Toothless sighed, knowing that the cave would be impossible to find in the night. He crouched down and curled up next to Hiccup, laying a wing over his small, fragile body. Tomorrow, his Hiccup would come back.

* * *

**Yay, Hiccup isn't dead! So, Guest, your wish has been granted *Waves magical wand***

**Anyways, if you did(n't) like something, tell me about it! Click that button that makes me feel so warm... and fuzzy... and nice... mmmm...**

**Well, as usual, another chapter WILL be out Sunday, and I may or may not update Thursday. We'll see. Anyways, have fun until then!**


	6. Possibilities

**Chapter 6! Happy Easter everybody, and hopefully with the break I'll be able to write the next chapter and have it out on Thursday! Now isn't that exciting?**

**PokemonKnight: You'll find out now!**

**better-in-black-since-1234: It's probably both. I sometimes rush, and I often repeat words. But don't worry, I plan to see this story all the way through!**

**DunalN2: I'll try, but that's hard for me to do. As for ideas, I already have the general plot outlined, but if I need help I'll know who to go to.**

**TheREAL13thfirewolf: I agree, although the main reason I had Hiccup meet Odin is because Odin is the god of wisdom and, surprisingly, the slain. But more for the wisdom part :D**

**Stinkyfish98: Well, if you haven't noticed, I feel obliged to respond to everybody who reviews. Not sure if that's good or not...  
As for Hiccup/Odin, occasionally, but not for a while probably. And Gobber/Stoick...oh man, that's going places...it won't be this chapter, or even the next 'village' chapter, but the one after that... well, you'll be in for a surprise! *Cackles like a maniac***

**I.F.T.S: At least she won't die now! I need her for the plot. Oh yes, she's going to be ****_very _****important!**

**After all those responses, on to the chapter!**

* * *

The sunlight rose slowly, casting a sparkling reflection off the calm sea. A slight wind brushed through the trees, causing a gentle ruffling sound as the leaves met each other, as if to say good morning. The silence and tranquility was broken as a cow-like call rang through the air. A single puffin stood on one of the cliffs, announcing its catch to the world. A few more puffins flew in to feast with it. Silence returned, before a loud roar sounded nearby, making the puffins scatter and fly off, calling out as they did so. A black shape slowly emerged from the tree line, and inspected the catch the birds had made. There were mostly herrings, with a few sprats and a couple of sand eels. Toothless snorted to himself as he inspected the aforementioned sand eels. Humans came up with the craziest names, considering these 'sand eels' weren't even eels.

He quickly ate down most of the food, grabbing the remaining in his mouth. When his Hiccup woke up, he would probably be hungry. Toothless jumped off the ledge and flapped his wings once, settling into a glide. He hadn't travelled too far. He wanted to be nearby in case something happened. As Toothless landed in the cove, he glanced at the form of his human. He looked so peaceful, his features set in a gentle smile. Toothless' heart broke again as he remembered he had died with that smile on his face. He nudged Hiccup once, and released a small croon when he met cold flesh. He gently grabbed Hiccup in his forepaws and, with a final glance at the cove, took off.

Toothless flew up high, getting a good vantage of the entire island. His eyes were focused on the most prominent feature of the island: The mountain. He beat his wings a few times and flew closer, searching for one particular cave. The sun steadily climbed higher, offering light to the previously shadowed parts of the mountain. It was in one of these emerging areas that Toothless saw his destination. He glided down in tight circles so he wouldn't gain too much speed and lose sight of the cave. As he came closer, he straightened out, landing softly on the rock floor. Toothless carefully leaned Hiccup against one of the walls, dropping the pile of fish he had carried by Hiccup as well. Toothless drew himself back up, glancing around the hole, before peering into the depths of the cave. He slowly started walking, his ears flicking back and forth to capture any sound that may reveal the location of the dragon he was searching for. The darkness seemed to not only be devoid of light, but of sound as well. The only thing Toothless could hear was the gentle padding as his paws hit the stone floor and the sound of his heart steadily beating in his chest. Toothless stopped, sniffing the air. He could faintly smell the scent of a dragon, however…

Toothless roared out in shock as a large, red mass slammed onto his back, knocking him to the ground. He instinctively jerked to the right in an attempt to get the attacker off, but claws reached around him dug into his stomach, refusing to let go. Toothless rolled over, his attacker now on the ground beneath him. He proceeded to writhe furiously, his movements eventually paying off as one of the claws loosened its hold temporarily. Toothless took the opportunity to wrench free of the offending claw and slide out of the hold. The dragon on the ground quickly got up, facing Toothless. It was a light salmon red, and was similar to a Monstrous Nightmare, except that it was smaller and the membranes of its wings were jagged, as if they'd been cut. Toothless stiffened slightly, realizing exactly who the dragon was, before doing a small bow.

The dragon before him regarded Toothless with a cold stare, before the eyes softened and the dragon said, "Why have you come here, thurkear wiivai?"

Toothless lifted his head back up and replied, "Svadria altiui, I come here for your help. One that I have grown close to has recently…fallen." The last word came out as a whisper.

The red dragon sighed, before looking at Toothless "Since the formalities are over, and I have a feeling that you're going to be here a while," The dragon slid his front right foot forward, his paw down. "My name is Torin."

Toothless looked down at the offered paw, before placing his paw in front of it, touching his claws to Torin's. He looked at Torin and said, "Toothless."

Torin looked at Toothless for a second, before bursting into laughter, much to Toothless' annoyance. After about a minute, the laughter subsided, leaving Torin on the floor gasping for breath. He glanced at Toothless, and proceeded to burst into another round of giggles. It only lasted a couple of seconds, before Torin staggered to his feet, apologizing as he did so. Toothless grunted, before asking, "So are you willing to help me or not?"

Torin studied Toothless a little, the remnants of a grin still on his face, before shrugging "It depends on who you want to help, and why you want them back."

Toothless motioned with his head, and started towards the entrance of the cave. Torin followed, and widened his eyes when he saw a human. He glanced at Toothless, who had sat beside the scrawny thing and looked at him seriously. Toothless' eyes flickered to the still form of the human, and then back to Torin, before simply stating, "This is Hiccup, my human." Toothless then told Torin about everything that had happened, how he had first found the boy, how they were closer than anyone would have thought possible, and eventually, of his death. By the end of the tale, Toothless' voice had deepened to a growl, as rage for the insolent humans coursed throughout his body. He glanced at Torin, who seemed shocked, before asking again, "Will you help me?"

Torin shook himself from his stupor. He scrutinized the human carefully, before solemnly saying, "I can bring him back, but at a cost. However," Torin's voice brightened "It may not be so bad, seeing how much you like this human." Toothless quizzically looked at Torin, who turned to face Toothless and asked in a serious tone, "How far would you go to bring this human back?"

Toothless replied instantly with, "I would do anything."

Torin nodded, before motioning for Toothless to come closer. The black dragon got up slowly, and walked towards Torin, curious as to what this solution was. Suddenly, Torin's claw flashed out, whacking Toothless' head and knocking him out instantly. Torin looked at the dragon, and then to the human, and set to work.

As the moon looked over the island, a single black dragon stirred. The dragon groaned, slowly gaining consciousness again. The waking was painful. He found himself on his back, and with an incredible amount of pain coming from his stomach. However, every single one of Toothless' limbs ached, feeling as if they'd been torn off and then sewn on by a hatchling. He groaned again, rolling over to get into a more comfortable position, and frowned as his wing hit something warm. Toothless sprung back in surprise as his memories returned. A growl came from his throat as he remembered what that traitorous dragon had done. The form before him shifted, solidifying into the shape of a dragon. Toothless snarled, studying the form before him. The dragon seemed to be darker than Torin, perhaps a dark red? Toothless watched the dragon for a few seconds more, before huffing and turning towards the entrance of the cave. His rage would be saved for Torin. He stared at the moon for a couple of minutes, before turning towards the untouched pile of fish.

It hadn't spent too much time in the sun, yet it was still too old for Toothless' liking. Toothless always preferred his fish fresh, alive if he could get it. Toothless gave a small grunt, nosing into the pile and grabbing a fish, throwing it into the air and catching it with a swift thrust of his head. As the fish slid down, a sudden though came to him. Hadn't he placed Hiccup beside the pile of fish? Yes, he had. So where was Hiccup? Toothless pushed these thoughts aside as he heard a weak moan come from behind him. Toothless turned around, looking at the dragon that was now waking itself from its slumber. As it moved, the moonlight reflected off the dragons scales, revealing it to actually be a dark, midnight black.

Toothless redirected his eyes to the dragon's as it whimpered, "Oww… oh gods my head." The black dragon rolled over onto its stomach, groaning. "And my stomach…and my arms…oh dear Odin everything hurts." One of the dragon's eyes opened, and upon seeing the dark emerald green eyes, Toothless was certain this dragon was a Night Fury as well.

"And who are you?" Toothless asked, trying his best to sound imposing. However his efforts seemed in vain as the dragon refused to move. Instead its eye moved to Toothless. The dragon looked at him, before its eyes continued moving. Toothless was confused. He was certain the dragon had seen him, but it gave no indication that it was going to reply.

Toothless trotted over and gave the dragon a solid whack on the head. The dragon yelped, recoiling his head a bit in shock, but still refusing to move. The dragon glared at him, before asking, "Toothless, what was that for!?"

Those words made Toothless halt. The dragon had known his name, yet he was sure he hadn't mentioned it before. It could have been a friend of Torin's, however Toothless doubted it. "I'm going to ask once more. Who are you?" Toothless growled

The other dragon simply stared at him, its mouth hanging open, before it stuttered out, "T…Toothless…did you just talk?"

Toothless narrowed his eyes. Something about this dragon wasn't right. "Of course I talked, but you haven't answered my question. Who are you?" There was something about this dragon…

Hiccup stumbled to his feet, saying, "Toothless, you know me! I'm Hiccup! Why, can't you…?" Hiccup looked down as he felt his balance shift, stopping mid-sentence, before releasing a loud cry of surprise. Hiccup jerked his head around in fear, looking at his feet, then his tail, and finally his wings. Hiccup faintly said, "Oh…Thor, I'm a dragon…" before his legs gave out and he fainted. Toothless was equally surprised. His Hiccup was alive…and a dragon. Toothless wasn't sure what he should try to understand first, or how he should feel about this sudden change in events. On one paw, he could finally speak to Hiccup! And they could _really_ fly together. Although, he wasn't sure how Hiccup would react when he woke up again. He curled up next to Hiccup, his mind a whirl with thoughts, but he settled his thoughts and his body, deciding to get a bit more sleep. Morning would bring many new possibilities, and a new perspective...

* * *

**Yay! My favorite part! And my own OC... I feel so proud of myself :)**

**The next chapter is a 'village' chapter, so we go back to Berk! More excitement!**

**I said most of what I want to at the top, so see you (hopefully) on Thursday!**


	7. Reflections

**I know, some of you guys probably hate me. I've been promising the 'Thursday Update' for a while, although with a combination of school work and lack of motivation, I wasn't able to finish it on Thursday.**

**NightFuryOne: Thanks, glad I surprised you!**

**Lighty7: A review from you? I'm honored! Sorry to hear you don't like the transformation part, but I hope you read the rest of the story!**

* * *

Berk was in disarray. There was no other way to describe the chaos that befell upon the small island. Ever since Hiccup's body had left with 'that cursed devil' people were dumbfounded. Nobody, not even Fishlegs, had seen or heard of a dragon doing anything remotely like what the Night Fury had done. Some people started to wonder if there was something more to dragons than what they had previously thought. Of course, nobody dared voice these dangerous thoughts to anyone, least of all the Chief. Stoick had fallen into a vicious cycle of emotions that was constantly eating away at him. One second he would feel sadness and despair for having lost the final remnant of his family, the next he would feel hatred, and such rage towards dragons as unseen from anybody. It would consume him so completely that other people worried for their Chief's sanity.

Dragon training was scheduled to start earlier, under Stoick's orders. Normally, the teens would have been excited to start training earlier, to become adults sooner. However, the loss of Hiccup was starting to affect the teens. Snotlout claimed that it was because he missed his 'favorite punching bag' however the other teens knew that it wasn't just them who mourned Hiccup, even if he was, well, a hiccup.

4 days after Hiccup's death and departure, there was a burial. Stoick had Ingvar, Fishlegs' dad, make a small boat for the funeral. The boat was loaded with some of the things Hiccup had owned; some of his drawings, a spare sketchbook he had along with his pencils, the set for hnefatafl1 that Hiccup had received from trader Johann as a birthday present, an old set of blacksmith tools Gobber had given him, and an axe that Stoick had planned on giving Hiccup next year for dragon training. Most of the village had shown up to watch the boat burn, despite the fact that he wasn't liked by any of them. Astrid still couldn't quite believe what had happened, and she had watched numbly as the wooden boat sailed out, while the fire slowly consumed it. She had stayed in the same spot for the better part of the day, before heading back towards her house.

That had been yesterday, and the 5 adolescents were now in the Mead Hall for their morning meal. Nobody had talked much, however Fishlegs decided to lighten up the mood by proposing to go ice-skating. After brief consideration, everybody agreed to meet up in the cove that they had last seen Hiccup at. At first, they went there for peace, but it quickly became a meeting place for them, where they could train and play games. Astrid was the first to arrive, as usual. Snotlout arrived next, with Fishlegs in hot pursuit. Tuffnut made a dramatic entrance, falling from the edge while Ruffnut 'innocently' watched from the top. Tuffnut dragged himself up, spouting curses and insults. Ruffnut stopped laughing for a couple seconds to yell down, "Good going, you clumsy troll!"

Tuffnut smirked, promptly replying, "At least I can remember to lock the barn!"

Ruffnut scowled down at Tuffnut, jumping down from the cliff and landed on Tuffnut. The twins proceeded to roll on the ground, fighting each other. Astrid yelled at them to stop or she'll 'show them what it's like to be an ice skate.' Tuffnut was the first to stop, grinning at Ruffnut. They both got up, strapping on the bone skate with a length of leather. By the time the twins were ready, the others were already on the ice. Fishlegs was taking it slow, while Snotlout was attempting to impress Astrid with 'graceful tricks'. Astrid, of course, was not interested, moving across the ice with ease. Tuffnut sped onto the ice, crashing into Snotlout. Ruffnut followed shortly after, laughing gleefully while landing on top of the pile.

As Snotlout was about to push them off none too gently, the ice gave a resounding CRACK. Tuffnut had time to mutter, "That's not good." before the ice gave way, plunging the 3 teens into the freezing water. Astrid and Fishlegs rushed over, managing to catch Ruffnut before she disappeared into the murky depths. Fishlegs carried her to the shore, while Astrid deftly untied her skates, took a deep breath and jumped into the hole. She almost released the air from shock as the frigid water hit her without mercy. Astrid squinted her eyes, trying to pierce through the cloudy water. Her attention was drawn by one shape that was frantically moving. As she neared, she saw it was Tuffnut. Astrid grabbed his arm, dragging him back towards the entrance. Fishlegs was leaning over, and when he saw Tuffnut he reached out a hand to help. Astrid handed over Tuffnut, who had stopped struggling.

Astrid took another breath, and then dove back into the icy water. She swam deeper, looking for any sign of movement. She soon reached the bottom, and started swimming in a random direction, wondering to herself how large the lake could be. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a metallic glint pierce the cloudy water. She swam over, seeing Snotlout's still form. Astrid grabbed his arm, silently noting that she could no longer feel her hand. With a powerful kick, they both rose towards the surface. As they got closer, a burning sensation started in Astrid's chest, reminding her she had a limited amount of air. When Astrid arrived at the surface, she looked around frantically, trying to find the hole. Astrid clenched her eyes in silent rage, before pounding on the ice, hoping Fishlegs would hear her. As the burning sensation increased, she started slamming harder against the ice, smiling as small cracks appeared.

Black spots appeared, threatening to drag her into unconsciousness. Astrid gave one final push, breaking the ice. She emerged, gasping for breath, dragging Snotlout out with her. Astrid dragged herself up, before smashing her fist into Snotlout's chest. A spew of water flew out, quickly followed by a ragged breath. Astrid breathed a sigh of relief, seeing he was awake. As she lay down, she looked at the ceiling. The cove didn't have a ceiling did it? That was when she finally realized where they were. They weren't in the cove, but what appeared to be a cavern, with a small hole at the top and an ice-covered pond in the middle, where they had just come out. Astrid wearily got up, wincing as her hands tingled, signifying that feeling was slowly returning. She kicked Snotlout in the side. When he didn't budge, Astrid heaved a long sigh, glancing around for anything that could help them get out of this place. There weren't many; a few vines, rocks, and some moss. She glanced at the hole, briefly thinking, before she yelled out loudly, "FISHLEGS!"

This startled Snotlout, who shot her a dirty look and complained, "Did you have to wake me up? I was having an amazing dr…" Astrid cut him off with a punch the shoulder. Just as Snotlout was about to start complaining again, Astrid shot him a glare, daring him to continue. Snotlout shut his mouth, scowling at Astrid, who was now intently listening. As she heard a faint call, she smiled, pumping the air with her fist. She yelled out again, and Snotlout finally understood the predicament they were in. He listened with Astrid, and the reply was clearer and much closer than before. Astrid heard the distinctive crack in the voice, grinning as she said, "It's Fishlegs!"

She called out once more, and the prompt response was followed by footsteps. Astrid then heard Ruffnut say, "I don't see them anywhere."

Astrid called back, "We're in a cave, and we can see a hole. Look for it!"

After a few minutes of waiting, with the occasional call between the two groups, Tuffnut managed to find the hole. Fishlegs threw down a vine that was hanging from a nearby tree, and Astrid expertly climbed it, followed by Snotlout's clumsy imitation of her. Once they were safe out of the hole, Fishlegs eagerly asked, "What happened?"

Astrid recounted the tale, while Fishlegs looked down at the opening that now seemed very obvious. When she finished, Fishlegs wondered aloud if there were any more caves like this. Snotlout rolled his eyes and replied, "Why would you want to know?" Fishlegs didn't reply, knowing Snotlout would never listen.

Tuffnut broke the silence that had settled over the group by asking, "Should we go back home?"

Ruffnut punched Tuffnut, "You idiot, we left our skates back at the cove."

Tuffnut scowled back "Right, troll-brain, let's go."

The teens made their way back to the cove; the twins were arguing, Fishlegs was humming to himself, and Snotlout was, surprisingly, quiet. Astrid glanced at him, before deciding to take the gift while she could and didn't comment on it. It wasn't too long before they reached the cove.

While the teens searched for their lost skates, Astrid grabbed hers and started walking around the cove, thinking about that one day. She could still see every event clearly, as if it had just happened. She walked to the spot where Hiccup had intercepted her axe. She knelt down, looking around as a fresh wave of guilt washed through it. Her searching eyes stopped as they stopped a foreign brown, rectangular object hidden in the shadow of a rock. She walked over, studying the book. It was plain, the cover unadorned. Astrid slowly opened the cover to the first page. It was plain except for 7, carefully written words; _Property of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third_

Astrid's breath caught, and she tentatively turned to the second page. It was filled with drawings drawn with the same expertise as the ones she found in the forge, but with less detail. The beginning of the book was filled with pictures of the village, of people. However, as the drawings progressed, the focus started to shift towards landscapes. Eventually, that became different as well, the drawings finally centering on the dragon. Astrid flipped through the page, amazed that more than half the book contained drawings of the dragon. As Astrid neared the final pages, there were a few journal entries. Astrid stopped, taking her time to read them. What she saw shocked her. They were all about the dragon as well. Ways to tell the others about dragons, things he observed, ideas on a possible saddle, but the final journal entry was the strangest. It showed Hiccup toying with the idea of leaving Berk with 'Toothless'. However, at the end of the journal, he wrote 'However, I can't simply leave everyone in Berk ignorant of the truth. I will have to think of more ways to tell the others. Without Astrid beating me with her axe, of course.'

Astrid slowly closed the book, leaning against the rock and closing her eyes. Her mind was desperately trying to process the information. Memories attacked her, reminding her of everything she had done to Hiccup. Pushing him into the mud, scorning him, laughing at his feeble attempts to help out. Was he so desperate for a friend he found one in a dragon? Astrid didn't notice the shout of rage from Tuffnut as his skates eluded him, or the joyful announcement from Ruffnut sometime later that she had found hers, or even the fight that ensued as Tuffnut claimed the skates were his. It wasn't until Snotlout gently shook her, gently saying, "Wake up sugar, it's time to go." Astrid responded with a punch across the face, knocking him to the ground. She got up, stealthily placing the book further back into the shadows to conceal it from sight. Astrid then did the same with her thoughts, stopping them and hiding them from sight. Snotlout pulled himself up, while wearing a big smile as if he'd won some great victory. The teens departed, their feelings light except for Astrid, her guilt growing and weighing her down. If she had taken some time to think, he might not have died. If she had ignored that piece of paper. If she had…

_been his friend_ her consciousness bitterly reminded her.

Astrid battled with her emotions until they reached the village. Dusk was fast approaching, and the teens all agreed to meet up the following day. Astrid wearily went home and got into her bed. As she looked up at the ceiling, she resolved to find the truth the Hiccup had discovered and do what he could no longer do. With the small amount of comfort that offered, Astrid fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**1. Hnefatafl is a Viking board game, consisting of 12 red 'pawns', 12 white 'pawns' and one 'king'. We don't know how it's played unfortunately.**

**And yes, Vikings did have ice-skating. It was made of bones and tied with a leather thong. I do my research :P**

**Anyways, I'll be furiously mustering up motivation to write, and I'll see you next time!**


	8. Adapting

**Yay for long chapters! Boo for long updates! Other than that, life's been good.**

**Astriddragonstar: Yes, I like to make sure everything I put in the stories is correct. I even like to have the magic explainable. That will probably be in Chapter...10 maybe? Next chapter is more Berk, and 10 will be Hiccup and Toothless.**

**Guest (4/8/13): Nope, not now, not ever. To quote myself, I will probably never go into the M rating, and will only do so for violence. I have no interest in writing a romantic coupling of any kind.**

**Miles-tails-prowler: 3 reviews? All positive? Thanks!**

**This chapter is dedicated to all the science nerds out there. You'll see why later in the chapter. :P**

**Disclaimer: I forgot to do this again? Well, since half the people skip the AN, and half of the remaining half stopped when they saw 'Disclaimer', thanks to the people who kept reading this. And no, I don't own HtTYD. I only own Torin. And his species. And the plot. And the knowledge of the plausible location of Berk. And other stuff.**

**And PLEASE read the AN at the bottom. PLEASE!**

**Now onto the story!**

* * *

The second waking was easier. The aching was gone, thank Odin. Hiccup slowly got up and stretched, and paused as the memories rushed back. He collapsed back on the ground with a groan, waking Toothless in the process. Toothless raised his head, looking at Hiccup sleepily, before giving him a smile. "It's about time you got up. It's nearing midday."

Hiccup stared at Toothless a bit, before muttering, "This is going to take some getting used to."

Toothless gave a short chuckle, replying, "The feeling is mutual, Hiccup. How are you feeling?"

Hiccup winced at the unfamiliar sensation of a tail dragging on the floor as he moved around the cave a little. "The aching is gone, and I don't _think_ I've lost my mind."

The pair jumped a little as an unfamiliar voice interrupted, "Don't worry, you aren't insane just yet." Toothless relaxed as he saw it was Torin.

Hiccup cocked his head curiously at the red dragon "Who are you?"

Torin sat down on the floor, responding "The one who saved you. You're Hiccup, correct?"

Hiccup nodded, glancing at Toothless worriedly. "So, what happened while I was…you know…" Hiccup trailed off sheepishly.

Toothless looked at Torin, "Before we go any further, Hiccup, this is Torin. Torin, you already know Hiccup."

Hiccup glanced at Torin curiously, asking, "What kind of dragon are you?"

Torin straightened slightly, replying, "I am known as a svadria altiui among dragons, however you humans call me the 'Ripped Wing'." Torin snorted at this "Humans come up with the stupidest names."

Hiccup was momentarily shocked from the fact that he was in front of a dragon that was only told of in legends. He quickly recovered and retorted, "Well, we call you that for good reason! Your wings are jagged, and look like they've been... well... ripped."

Torin rolled his eyes, "Well it's not the best name. Night Fury, now that's a good name."

Hiccup sighed, "Well it was either that or the Spawn of Loki."

Torin frowned, "Now why would they call me that?"

"Well, your intelligence is said to be unmatched, and your acid is rumored to burn more than the serpent's venom that Loki lies under."

Toothless interrupted with, "Can we move back to the original question? Hiccup, you wanted to know what happened, right?" Hiccup nodded at this "Ok, after you died, I decided to take you here. What you humans don't know is that the blood of a svadr…Ripped Wing, is said to have healing properties strong enough to bring back the dead. Although it appears to come at a cost."

"A good one, in my opinion." Torin stated "You humans are clumsy, and you were weaker than most. No offense."

Hiccup huffed indignantly, however he knew that Torin was correct.

"_Anyways_," Toothless emphasized, "I brought you here, met Torin, introduced him to you, got knocked out, and finally woke up. You know the rest."

Hiccup sat there, before playfully asking, "That's it? No grand adventure?"

Toothless snorted, "You wish. I would much rather avoid the trouble of an adventure, thank you very much."

Hiccup grinned, "You sure? You seemed to have fun on that one hunting trip."

Toothless shrugged, "I'm stubborn, and it wasn't my fault that deer decided to go into a bear's cave. Although I'll forever wonder how it didn't know the bear was there."

Torin watched the exchange with amusement, before reaching over to the pile of fish and tossing a few over. The cave had sheltered the fish from the sun, however they weren't fresh, and they smelled rancid. Hiccup gagged as his nose was assaulted, "That smells horrible! No way am I eating that."

Toothless raised an eyebrow, or as close as he could get "You sure? You haven't eaten for a few days."

Hiccup vehemently denied it, while Toothless pushed. This went on for a minute, before the debate was broken by a loud grumble from Hiccup's stomach.

"I WIN!" Toothless shouted triumphantly. Hiccup glowered at Toothless, reluctantly taking one of this fish and eating it.

After a few seconds, Hiccup said, "You know, even though it smells like the tannery, it doesn't taste half bad." Hiccup reached down, eating another. Toothless joined in shortly afterward, shooting an amused glance at Hiccup. Hiccup glared back, "Shut it, you overgrown lizard."

Toothless laughed at this, almost choking on a fish in the process. Torin smiled, announcing that he would leave the two in peace while he went in search of some more food.

When Torin had left, Toothless stopped eating momentarily to say, "After we finish, we need to do some training."

Hiccup shook his head as he swallowed a fish, quickly saying, "No no, no, that's not necessary, and, I don't need to, er, train."

Toothless chortled, "And I assume you can shoot a fireball?" Hiccup grimaced "Or fly? Or hunt? And what about walking properly?"

Hiccup shot Toothless an evil look, "I can walk properly. I'm not completely incompetent, you know."

Toothless tilted his head to the side, a small smile on his face "Show me!"

Hiccup drew himself up, walking proudly across the floor. Toothless erupted into laughs, falling onto his back as well. Hiccup marched over, returning Toothless' earlier favor and whacking him on the head. Toothless managed to calm himself, still looking at Hiccup with a mocking expression. Hiccup scowled, "Ok, what did I do wrong?"

Toothless chuckled again "Everything! Your tail is dragging on the ground, your wings are hanging by your sides, and you move both left legs at the same time. You do the same with the right side. They need to alternate, front left, back right and then front right, back left."

The afternoon was spent teaching Hiccup how to walk like a dragon. Torin arrived near the end of the lesson. He set down the fish he had caught and watched from the side. When Toothless was satisfied, they stopped for a snack. After a couple of fish, Hiccup looked up, "So what's next? Flying?"

Toothless shook his head, "Nope, you're not ready for that yet." When Hiccup started to protest, Toothless stopped him "Flying is a lot harder than it looks. For now, we're going to work on running."

Hiccup heaved a sigh, preparing himself for the worst.

The sun was well on its way down when Hiccup collapsed on the leaf-covered ground, panting from exhaustion. Toothless nudged him with his snout, urging him to get up. Hiccup simply groaned, rolling over. Toothless had pushed him tirelessly until he could run proficiently, and then further. Hiccup was now sure he could outrun Toothless after all that practice. It also helped that he had years on Berk to figure out how to outrun Snotlout and the twins. Hiccup's mind followed the path it had started, wondering how everyone was doing on Berk. Was his dad OK? That train of thought was derailed when he felt yet another nudge.

"Get up, we're not done yet. We still have so much to learn!" Toothless exclaimed

"Toothless, I can't take any more running. My legs feel like they're going to fall off, not to mention…"

"We're done with running, you'll be happy to hear," Toothless interjected "It's time to learn how to defend yourself as a dragon."

Hiccup shot a glare at Toothless. It was no secret between them that was where Hiccup earned his infamous title 'Useless'. He was just thankful that trait showed up before his failures at helping, or he might have been called 'Disastrous'. Toothless grinned back, before crouching and wagging his tail. Hiccup scrambled to his feet, barely evading the pounce that landed where his stomach had been a few seconds before. Toothless relaxed.

"Well, now that you're finally up, we can start with the lesson!"

Hiccup glowered at Toothless, quickly thinking over his options. 'I think it's time Toothless saw how effectively he teaches' he thought mischievously as a devilish grin plastered itself on his face. Toothless' ramblings slowly died off, as he looked at Hiccup curiously. Before he could comment, however, Hiccup shot off, running as fast as he could. He could hear Toothless protests fading off in the distance, and his smile grew larger. It had been a while since they played hide-and-seek.

{YayForTimeSkips!}

Predictably, the game didn't last long. While Hiccup could run faster, Toothless could fly. "CHEATER!" Hiccup yelled, furiously swerving through trees as a shadow hovered overhead.

"Don't you wanna learn how to hunt? To leap through the air and dig your claws into the soft, luscious flesh of a plump, young, deer as the warm, comforting blood spur-"

"NO! Ew, disgusting, no no no!"

"Or how about shooting fireballs? Just imagine that fireball hitting one of your old 'frien-"

"TOOTHLESS!"

"Ok, ok, calm down. Well then, how about self-defense!?"

Hiccup yelped as Toothless finally made his move, dive bombing into his side. They rolled on the ground, grappling with each other. The fight was quickly over, ending with Hiccup pinned to the ground. Hiccup sighed, plopping his head onto the ground. "Fine, you win, teach me the next lesson."

Toothless grinned, leaping off excitedly, "Alright, so, next we're going to learn how to shoot a fireball!"

Hiccup grimaced as he remembered the mental picture he was given by Toothless. He would find a way to get back at him…later. "Speaking of which, how can you guys do that?"

"Well that's what I'm about to teach you, so firs-"

"No, I mean, how does it happen? What happens that lets you do that?"

"I've noticed you've cut me off a lot latel-"

"Toothless!"

"And you've yelled at me too."

Hiccup rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Fine. Toothless, can you please explain how you can shoot a fireball?"

"Well, it all starts off with the food. There are three main ingredients. Vann, kolefni, and kol (1)."

Hiccup stared at Toothless with a blank expression.

"Oh, right, I forgot you don't know our classifications. They would be water, calcium, and carbon respectively. Anyways, in our gas chamber, kolef…calcium and carbon are mixed together to produce carbid calsiwm. I'm not sure what you would call it, but I'm going to say calcium carbide. Next, water is added to produce 2 things; calsiwm hydrocisd and acetylen, which will be calcium hydroxide and acetylene. The former, calcium hydroxide, is used to help purify the water we drink, speed up our digestion, augment sugar extraction, and to also keep bugs away from us. The latter, acetylene, is used as the bolt. When it's combined with oxygen, it reacts and becomes the infamous purple bolt (2)."

Hiccup's face scrunched up, an expression he usually took when he was thinking hard about something. Currently, his mind was taking the words it had discovered and storing them in his mind for later use. It was also making sure it knew exactly what happened with the plasma bolt. After about a minute, Hiccup nodded, certain he had the information memorized.

Toothless jumped up, "Now that the boring stuff is done with, let's move on to blowing stuff up!"

Hiccup gave a small chuckle, remembering how childish Toothless could be sometimes. "Alright," he conceded, "let's do this."

"Step number one! You should be able to feel the gasses in your gas chamber. It should feel all nice and floaty."

Hiccup concentrated, and was able to feel something to the right of his stomach. He gave a brief nod to notify Toothless he had found it.

"Ok, now, you need to…uh…well, it's hard to put into words. It's similar to coughing, except-"

Hiccup gave an experimental 'cough', firing a small bolt towards Toothless. Said dragon gave a cry of fright, jumping to the side as the bolt flew by him, smashing into a tree. Toothless shot a glare at Hiccup, "It would help if you waited for me to finish. Anyways, now that you can fire a bolt, let's work on the power. Usually, the bigger the breath, the bigger the bolt. Another tip, aim somewhere else."

Hiccup gave Toothless a grin, before turning his head towards a new tree. He breathed in deep, and he could feel something gathering itself in his 'gas stomach'. He released the bolt along with a burst of compressed air. The purple streak flew straight and true, slamming into the tree and blasting it into pieces. Hiccup was temporarily blinded, but when he looked at what his blast had done he gave a meek "Oh...". Thankfully, the tree wasn't on fire. It wasn't even smoldering for that matter. In fact, there wasn't even a tree for the fire to burn. It was simply gone. Not even a stump remained.

Toothless pranced over, a silly grin on his face. "Well done Hiccup! That was incredibly powerful! Your blast was aimed right at the middle, and the fire spread in both directions. That, combined with the fact that most of the tree exploded into splinters, resulted into what you see here!"

Hiccup wasn't exactly listening. His mind was still trying to process the power he now beheld. Never before had Hiccup done anything close to this destructive, not even his famed 'Fire-Mirror' could compare. He could still see that fireball, his initial excitement that the fireball had bounced off the metal sheet as planned, and the immediately following despair as the same mass of fiery destruction smashed through multiple houses, setting them all on fire. He never really did live that down.

Toothless slowly trailed off as he noticed Hiccup wasn't paying attention. With a roll of his eyes, he brought his tail around and whacked Hiccup's head. Hiccup gave a cry of fright, jumping a full 5 feet into the air. It seemed that Hiccup still hadn't fully adapted to being a dragon, as the weight of his wings dragged him down. He flapped them in a desperate attempt to right himself, but only succeeded in performing a half-complete back flip, landing flat on his face.

As he lay on the ground, moaning slightly in pain, he could hear a certain reptile laughing hysterically. That worthless hunk of scales. Hiccup slowly got up, making sure not to move his wings too much. Hiccup glared at the black mass rolling on the ground. He took a small breath, and fired a small blast near Toothless' head. The dragon was surprised, but continued to chuckle. Hiccup turned and stomped towards Torin's cave. He could hear Toothless dragging himself behind him, letting off the occasional chuckle. He would make sure to make that dragon pay. One way or another...

* * *

**Guess what Chapter 10 will include? Eh, eh?**

**1: Google Translate for the element names. I used quite a few, but they're not meant to be accurate.**

**2: THIS IS ALL TRUE! According to the HtTYD Wiki, the bolt is an acetylene/oxygen mix. Using only that knowledge, I made the entire process. I'm that nerdy. Now I did use Wikipedia, which is reliable for ****_certain_**** subjects (Science being one of them), however I'm fairly certain most information is correct. And I am aware that the composition would be very unstable and would go back to its base elements. Also, while I'm not 100% percent sure on the uses of calcium hydroxide, Wikipedia said (again, reliable for science) that it is used for the uses listed above, among others. **

**WARNING! IMPORTANT! IMPORTANTE! : Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT try this at home. ALSO, Do NOT take calcium hydroxide unprotected. It can cause SERIOUS HEALTH RISKS! **

**In addition, I am not responsible for anybody STUPID ENOUGH to try and go against this warning. Because warning is defined as: inform someone in advance of an impending or possible danger, problem, or other unpleasant situation. I don't think you want to go blind or cause damage to your lungs.**

**On the happier side of life, this has been my longest chapter yet! *Applause***

**With that note, thank you for reading, and I will not accept responsibility for your health. So don't sue me.**


	9. Journals

**I love the ending to this chapter. By far the best one I've done yet! But you'll have to wait to read it!**

**Anyways, this chapter is short, mostly because the entire week I was busy helping out with the school play. It was worth it, though!**

**xMidnightAurorax: As I've said, I plan to see this story to its end. Glad you're enjoying it, though!**

**Miles-tails-prowler: I did not know that! Hopefully anybody brave (or foolish) enough to mess around with acetylene reads your comment!**

**mr abomination: Wonderful! That should help you get good grades, right? :D**

**Saphireanime: I don't know how old Hiccup is, but 14 sounds like a good age. And Toothless does go into 'mother-hen' mode when Hiccup's around.**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Morning couldn't come fast enough. When it finally did arrive, Astrid wolfed down her morning meal and, with the excuse of going to train, she ran off into the woods. The path to the cove was ingrained into her brain. Left around the pile of rocks, down the crevice, and she was there. Astrid didn't waste any time to admire the cove in the morning light. She hopped down the pile of rocks, briskly walking to the rock that housed the book. Now that she knew it was there, she was surprised Snotlout hadn't seen it. She grabbed it and climbed up to the exit, aware that it wouldn't be safe there. After a speedy debate, she hurried to a familiar hole. Astrid threw down a fresh vine and climbed into the cavern she had been stranded in yesterday.

With a brief glance around to re-familiarize herself, she settled down against a wall, using the sunlight streaming from the opening to read. She pored over the journal entries, trying to figure out everything he had discovered. The dragon was called Toothless, she had figured out that much. And from the way Hiccup wrote about Toothless, he seemed to think that dragons were intelligent. Astrid put down the book when that thought came to life. Dragons weren't, couldn't, be intelligent. Right? They were mindless creatures, and we have to…

_Kill them or they'll kill us_… that's how the old mantra went. Kill the mindless beasts. She was slipping back into the Viking mindset. Besides, if it was killed-or-be-killed when it came to dragons, then why wasn't Hiccup killed?

_'He was'_ her conscience bitterly reminded her. Astrid vigorously shook her head. No, it wasn't her fault. He had jumped in front of the axe. _'But you threw it_'. No, no, she wasn't going for him. Couldn't he have restrained himself and… _let his best friend, the only one who accepted him, die?_

Astrid's breath caught, as she finally realized why Hiccup couldn't kill that dragon, and why the dragon similarly couldn't kill him. They were different from everybody else, a one-of-a-kind. An enigma that nobody else understood. Grief and guilt assaulted her mind. She didn't know how long she sat there, staring blankly at the book in front of her. Finally, she roughly dragged the emotions into a corner of her mind, and hardened her resolve to follow in Hiccup's footsteps. But first, she had to think like Hiccup.

Thankfully, the forge wasn't too busy, seeing as they haven't had a raid in a while, and Gobber was more than happy to answer her questions, even if he was confused in the sudden interest she had.

"He often kept to himself, but what I do know is he was by far the smartest person in this tribe. True, the weakest, but he could outthink anybody."

"Anything else?"

Gobber sighed, putting his hammer down as he stared at the axe he had been working on. "Astrid… I don't feel ready to talk so casually about him so soon."

Astrid nodded, before gently asking, "Can I see his workshop."

"Don't touch anything, or I'll feed you to the Nightmare!"

Astrid slowly walked through the curtain, a feeling of nostalgia overcoming her. She pushed it aside, reminding herself of her promise, and started to look at the drawings with a new eye. After stashing a few in a small pouch she had brought, she started looking for old journals. Surely that wasn't the only one he had, after all those years. Eventually, she found three journals hidden away behind the small bookcase. She grabbed them and stuffed them into the pouch as well. She threw one final glance around the room, before exiting. Astrid thanked Gobber and hurriedly exited the forge, heading towards the cave. She had some reading to do.

Gobber watched Astrid half run, half jog out of the village. The sudden interest in Hiccup was intriguing, to say the least. Then again, Hiccup did have an effect on everyone in the village, even if they denied it. Hiccup had become a part of their lives, and the sudden removal of him stunned everyone.

Speaking of Hiccup, Stoick wasn't dealing with the loss too well. After the burial, he hardly came out of his house, leaving Spitelout in charge of the village. While he wasn't a horrible leader, Gobber much preferred Stoick. Gobber glanced up the hill towards the Chief's house, before setting the axe off to the side. It was time he talked to Stoick.

Stoick was interrupted from his thinking by a knock at the door. He glanced at it briefly, before he looked back at the fire. The door creaked open, and Gobber stuck his head in. Stoick stared at the flames, not wanting to talk to anyone right now. Gobber walked over, a worried look on his face.

"Stoick… it's been a week."

Stoick glowered, replying, "I know how long it's been."

"The village needs you."

"I'm not ready."

"Stoick, I understand you need time to mourn, but you've already had that time!"

"Well the time hasn't been long enough."

Gobber threw up his hand in despair, "You didn't take this long to get over Valhallarama."

It was a low blow, and Gobber knew it. Stoick's face darkened even more, but he didn't reply.

"The people need you, Stoick."

"You have Spitelout."

"He's not you!"

"Well he'll have to do."

"For the love of Thor, look at yourself! Have you even eaten? You look starved! You're killing yourself Stoick. You need to stop this! What would Hiccup say if…"

The stool clattered to the floor as Stoick abruptly stood up. Gobber realized with dread he had crossed the line. Stoick towered over Gobber, a dangerous look in his eyes. "I'm perfectly fine Gobber, and don't you forget it. And I'm sure _Hiccup_," the name was spat out with disgust, "Wouldn't care. No, he'd be off playing with his little _friend._"

Gobber's face became one of confusion, "What do you mean Stoick?"

Stoick advanced on Gobber, who backed up just as quickly. He had never seen the Chief this angry before. "What I mean is that Hiccup betrayed us all." Stoick whipped out a plain, brown journal, waving it in front of Gobber's face. "He tried to make friends with those devils. He was _never _one of us."

The book dropped to the floor with a clatter and Stoick turned back towards the fire. Gobber carefully picked it up. He had seen Hiccup write in these books when he had an idea, or when he had spare time. "Where did you find this?" Gobber asked.

"In his room, beneath the bed."

"When?"

"The day after the burial." Stoick could recall the day easily. He was in Hiccup's room, wishing things had been different, when he noticed the corner of the book peeking out from underneath the bed.

Gobber stared at the book, his mind a jumbled mess. "So you haven't been mourning him?"

Stoick snorted, "Mourning? No, I've been cursing him."

"Stoick, he's your own son!"

"No, no he wasn't. No son of mine would steal fish to feed a dragon. No son of mine would try to befriend one of those beasts. No son of mine would play with them, and no son of mine would go so far as to _RIDE_ THE BEASTS!"

Gobber felt as if his eyes would pop out, his mind refusing to even comprehend the subject, "Wha…ride it?"

Stoick nodded, righting the chair and sitting back down on it, growling, "This conversation is over, Gobber."

Gobber glanced at the journal, before begrudgingly walking out. His mind was a maelstrom of questions and emotions. It looked like his afternoon was going to be busy.

Astrid was sweating heavily by the time she arrived at the cavern. Normally, a simple run to the cavern would be no problem. Unfortunately, it seemed like Snotlout's interest in her was back, and with a vengeance. It took all of her skills to evade him. She had never realized how intent he was until she was up in a tree, and watched half-amused and half-disgusted as he tried to sniff the air like a dog. But even his stubbornness had to wear out eventually. After a couple of hours, he gave up and trekked back to the village.

Astrid slid down the vine, and threw a small bag of supplies into a corner. It contained a spare vine in case the existing one broke, some food and water, and most importantly, Hiccup's journals. Astrid retrieved the journals and settled next to the sack. After a brief deliberation, she chose the one that looked to be the oldest. The spine cracked as it was opened, releasing a small cloud of dust with it. After a brief coughing fit, Astrid started to read, and allowed her mind to immerse itself in the words.

It was just after sundown in Berk. The village was silent, save for the sound of footsteps, as a young auburn haired boy was scampering up the hill. He was going to be late for dinner, and that always resulted in a barrage of questions from his father. Honestly, it wasn't his fault the net broke, and he didn't understand why Gulli made him pick up all the fish.

The boy paused, gasping for breath. Why did the village have to be on a hill? Couldn't they have moved away from the sea a mil (1) or two? There were a few wonderfully nice clearings they could have settled in. But his insane ancestors chose one of the steepest hills in Berk.

"Hey, Useless!"

The boy, Hiccup, paled as he heard that voice. It was the voice of his cousin, Snotlout. Hiccup didn't pause to look behind him, immediately running for the safety of the Great Hall. Of course, it was a lost cause, as he felt a hand roughly grab him from behind and slam him into a nearby house. Hiccup's head swam as he blindly stumbled away. Another blow to his cheek sent him into the ground. He felt something warm slide down his face, and his eyes closed, silently accepting his fate. A foot smashed into his rib, and he thought he heard a crack as the air was forced out of his lungs. Hiccup gasped for breath, as a tear started to slide down his face. This only elicited laughter from the 3 voices.

Wait, 3?

Hiccup peered through one eye. There was Snotlout and Tuffnut, of course. They were always present when he was beaten like this. But behind them, watching with a small smile, was Astrid. Even though she was laughing at him, he couldn't help but admire her. The golden hair reflecting the torchlight, her blue-sapphire eyes alive with laughter. It was malicious laughter, but laughter nonetheless.

"WHAT ARE YOU KIDS DOING?"

The hysterics abruptly stopped, replaced with frantic footsteps as the other kids scattered. He heard a hollow thunk, and recognized the sound of Gobber's wooden leg. He was gently raised, and a hand wiped away the blood on his face.

"Who did this to you, lad?" Gobber gently asked. Ever since his mother had died, Stoick's family skills had broken down, and Gobber stepped in as a surrogate father.

"Nobody. I just tripped." Hiccup offered a weak smile. He knew Gobber didn't believe him, but he knew Gobber wouldn't push for an answer either.

Gobber shook his head in despair, helping Hiccup up and guiding him towards the forge. Hiccup was going to officially be his apprentice next year, but he still helped out when there weren't any raids going on. Hiccup felt more comfortable in the forge than he did at home, and smiled as Gobber sat him on a table in the spare room. Gobber was muttering to himself while he helped bandage Hiccup's wounds. Normally, a wounded Viking would visit Gothi, although Hiccup hurt himself so much that Gothi banned him from visiting her unless it was life-threatening.

Just as Gobber was finishing up, Hiccup asked, "Why does everybody hate me so much?"

Gobber glanced up at Hiccup, "Lad, it's not that they hate you, it's just that you're different than them."

"But that's why they hate me, right? They hate what's different than them?"

Gobber paused momentarily, before replying, "Most people hate what's different than them, or what they can't understand. But sometimes, the difference can lead the person to many great things. Have I told you the story of Beowulf?"

Hiccup shook his head, and Gobber kept Hiccup in the forge, retelling the story of a grand warrior, his mighty achievements, and how he conquered what was thought to be unconquerable.

* * *

**Yay for Hiccup-Gobber interaction! Hope I pulled that off nicely. **

**(1): A mil is, surprisingly, 7 miles. It is where we got the term 'mile', but the measurement is different. Strange, right?**

**And I know for a fact that the movie was set after Beowulf. Why else would Tuffnut call the Red Death the 'Bride of Grendel'? It's the subtle things that amuse me. :)**

**The next chapter should be longer, and it should be back to Toothless and Hiccup! Yay!**


	10. Conflictions

**Well, this chapter marks the end of my backup supply of chapters. Meaning if there are any delays, the story might be late. However, it came at the perfect time! With my sports over, and the play finished, I can commit more time to the story!**

**mr abomination: If you want an answer, Google! But also, a site called 'Hurstwic' has a HOARD of information on everything Viking! As for the idea, I'm not too keen on the idea, but I'll give it some thought.**

**xMidnightAurorax: Yes, I have OCRD, Obsessive Compulsive Replying Disorder. I feel obliged to respond to every review I get. In this chapter, there will be Hiccup-Toothless interaction, and next chapter will most likely be more on Hiccup's past.**

**Guest (4/21): Probably not, however if that idea interests you, a fanfiction called 'The Outcast Returns' has something similar.**

**Argon: Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and you can be sure that Astrid will be changing her view a lot!**

**Saienai: Wow... when I saw your name, I had to click on your profile, just to reassure myself it was THE Saienai. Honored doesn't even begin to describe what I feel! The pictures will be making appearances throughout the story, no I'm not too fond of Stoick, yes I love 'I Hear Him Scream' as well, and the Stoick part is mostly because I see him as impulsive, stubborn (of course), and the type to hold a grudge.**

**Dragon Spirit: Similar to mr abomination's idea, I'm not eager to take on the idea, but I will think about it.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

The next week was what Toothless nicknamed 'Learning Week', and what translated into 'Living Hel' for Hiccup. Torin and Toothless were working him from first light to sundown, with _small_ breaks for meals and snacks. Hiccup learned everything a dragon should know; hunting, stealth, formalities, and even healing (Which Hiccup found incredibly peculiar). However, the one thing he had yet to learn, and that he begged for throughout the week, was flying. He had carefully observed Toothless and Torin, taking mental notes on everything. However, simply watching couldn't help him do everything. Now it was Freya's day, and Toothless had finally relented.

"Don't be discouraged if you fall. It's expected. And are you sure you remember the steps? Wait… I think we forgot breakfast, you can't fly without eatin-"

"Toothless! Stop fretting over me!"

Torin was off to the side of the cliff, snickering at the scene before him.

"Keep in mind we'll catch you if you fall, so don't worr-"

"TOOTHLESS!"

"Ok, ok, just making sure."

Hiccup sighed, and walked to the edge of the cliff. He nervously looked at the water far below, watching it crash into the cliff face. _Wonder if that'll be me soon…_ Hiccup dispelled the morbid thought with a quick shake of his head. Now was not the time to let doubt in. _Ok, let's see. Extend all fins and wings…_ Hiccup slowly stretched them out, making sure they were all in place. _Ok, now, crouch, lean back a little…and here we go…_

With a powerful thrust of his legs, Hiccup shot into the air. Exhilaration filled him as he felt the air whip past his head and under his wings. Seeing the ground drop away, without falling, was intoxicating. Hiccup decided then and there that flying was his new favorite thing to do.

The victory was short-lived, however, as Hiccup started to plummet down to the water. He could hear the frantic cries of Toothless, who was probably speeding after him now. Even while the sea was rapidly advancing, Hiccup couldn't help but roll his eyes at Toothless' antics. He was grateful to have somebody care for him, but Toothless took that to an entirely new level.

Hiccup's wings curled inwards as he rolled over in the air, the water fast approaching as the wind threw the ocean spray into him. _Ok, stay calm, stay calm... and there goes the calm. _Fear started to creep in, threatening to make him lose his concentration, but he kept it at bay. _Almost… NOW!_

With a loud _WOOSH_, Hiccup extended his wings and all his fins, the sudden resistance pulling at his wings viciously. A low grunt escaped him as he forced his wings to stay out, and at last the wind relented as Hiccup settled into a steady glide across the water. The fear and adrenaline started to fade away, elation replacing it, and with a joyous cry, Hiccup did a back flip, celebrating his victory. Toothless, however, did not seem to share in Hiccup's enjoyment.

"Hiccup! Are you ok? You almost died! I knew you weren't ready for flyi-"

"Toothles-"

"You cut me off a lot, you know."

"Toothless, calm down!"

"How can I be calm!?"

"I had it all under control."

"It didn't look like it."

"But I was," Hiccup grinned mischievously, "That was payback for scaring me."

"What do you mean, scari…" Toothless trailed off, realization dawning on him. "What!? You mean you still remember… HICCUP!"

Hiccup had already sped off, flapping his wings for all he was worth. But even with the certainty that he was going to get caught and probably punished, Hiccup laughed, enjoying the sweet taste of revenge.

-ToothlessGoesBerserk-

Hiccup seemed to be a natural at flying, and was able to hold off Toothless for a full minute. After that, Hiccup was dragged to shore by the scruff of his neck, all the while with a lopsided grin on his face. Torin was bemused by the events, watching it with a raised eyebrow; or as best as he could do one. Of course Toothless, as Hiccup feared, was not very cordial to him.

"What were you THINKING!? What if you didn't pull out in time? And you scared me half to death! And then you had the audacity to run away from me!"

"And he held you off for a full minute," Torin interjected, getting bored of the tirade Toothless had been carrying on for far too long. "not to mention the strain and control that maneuver would have taken."

"That's beside the point! Don't do something like that ever again, Hiccup, ok?"

"Yes, mother." Hiccup said, his voice laced with his hallmark sarcasm.

"I certainly feel like one. I have to constantly watch out for you."

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"

"No, you're not."

Hiccup glowered, but he knew Toothless was right. It was his namesake, after all. He messed nearly everything up. His tracking was horrendous, his fireballs never cooperated with him, and his fighting skills were close to non-existent. The only things he had some amount of proficiency in were stealth and, as he just found out, flying.

"Fine, you parental reptile, I won't do it again."

Toothless growled slightly, anger still coursing throughout him.

Hiccup growled back, "I said I won't do it again! What more do you want?"

"To get a sense of self-preservation!"

"I have enough self-preservation!"

"It didn't look that way when you jumped in front of the axe!" Toothless snapped.

Silence gripped the small beach in a death hold. Hiccup was staring at Toothless in shock; not quite believing Toothless had gone that far. Toothless couldn't believe it either.

"No, no, I didn't mean that Hiccup, I'm sorry, I overreacted…" He crooned.

Hiccup didn't respond, instead giving Toothless a look filled with sorrow. Hiccup turned around and trudged back to the cave; his shoulders slumped, head downcast and paws dragging slightly.

"I really didn't mean it…" Toothless whispered.

Torin didn't reply, instead glancing towards Hiccup, "I'll go talk to him. See if he needs anything."

Toothless only watched as Torin chased after Hiccup.

-HiccupContemplates-

Hiccup barely noticed Torin walking beside him as he wandered aimlessly through the forest. The old action brought a small amount of comfort to him, but hardly enough to placate the storm of emotions going on inside him. His mind couldn't stop returning to what Toothless had said. Was that really how Toothless saw it?

A lack of self-preservation?

While the rational side of him screamed no, his heart said otherwise. Hiccup's thoughts drifted to other times. How had he met Toothless? Right, he was drawing him. Hiccup now realized that if Toothless weren't so inquisitive, he'd be long dead. If Toothless accused him of an absence of self-preservation then, he would have acquiesced. He remembered the drawing he had made that day. He had scrapped it a few days after his second meeting. He had tried to capture the dragon's 'ferocity' and 'ruthlessness'. Toothless' teeth were fully extended, wings flared, and his mouth curled in a predatory snarl.

The next few weeks he had filled half of his journal with drawings purely of Toothless, the drawings slowly starting to reflect the kinder, more playful side of Toothless. The paper he was using up was astounding. His room in the forge had a few pictures to help lift his spirits when things got particularly bad in the village. One look at any of the pictures and his troubles fled, leaving only a smile. However, his bedroom was more discreet. The papers were neatly stashed inside his closet. It was probably one of the safest places in his room. He would have put them under his bed, but that's where he kept a few of his journals. If he put the drawings there, it'd be a mess.

Hiccup could also remember when he hadn't met Toothless. The majority of his drawings were centered on landscapes. He never really drew the village, or any of the villagers. The one exception, of course, was Astrid. She never really cared for him, but next to Fishlegs and Gobber, she was the kindest to him. Of course, 'kind' meant not beating him up, and only scorning him when he had one of his 'hiccups', so to speak. And not to mention he had a crush on her. Then again, most people did. He was pretty sure even Fishlegs had some feelings for her.

Astrid… Hiccup started wondering about how she was doing. Most likely not too well, considering she had nearly killed him. Then again, she probably thought he was dead. So did the entire village. Besides… even if he went back…

He wouldn't be recognized…

It suddenly dawned on Hiccup what his new form fully entailed. Nobody would ever recognize him. He would simply be another dragon, and a rare one at that. If he was ever seen again they would certainly try to kill him. As far as anybody else was concerned, Hiccup was, in fact, dead.

Hiccup could feel his state of mind rolling downhill. He needed to divert his mind. He shifted his focus to what he could hear; a few birds, his own heavy breathing, the crunching of leaves next to him... Next to him?

Hiccup glanced over, finally becoming fully aware of Torin. He was thankful that Torin didn't try to initiate a conversation while he was thinking. Hiccup looked back down at the ground, his reflection broken. The sounds of the forest reigned, the void between them that was once comforting now becoming stifling. Hiccup asked the first question that came to mind, "How exactly did I become a dragon?"

Torin was caught slightly off-guard from the random question, before replying, "It's a complicated process that we don't fully understand. However, I can tell you what we do know if you like?"

Hiccup nodded, and Torin continued. "First, I had to remove a scale from Toothless. Scales contain a dragon's Life-Print (1), which dictates how a dragon looks, their personality, everything about them. Next, I had to add my acid. What you don't know is that the acid of a Ripped Wing first breaks down the cell wall, then removes the Life-Print of the creature. So by adding my acid, I was extracting the Life-Print into the acid. I reopened your wound and pressed Toothless' cut against your wound. Using my klösa, the longest claw on my paw, I delivered an electrical impulse via nerves that fooled Toothless' body into releasing basophil. Basophil releases histamine and heparin, the former drawing blood to the area, and the latter hinders clotting. After that, I added some new acid to your blood to remove your Life-Print, and mixed in the modified acid to replace it. Once this process was done, you now had enough blood in you to survive. The next step, bringing you back to life, was much easier. I used my klösa to pierce the skin right above your heart. I delivered a much stronger impulse that restarted your heart."

Hiccup blinked owlishly at Torin, not having understood half of what he said. Hiccup normally prided himself on being the most intelligent Viking in the village, but this was something else! "I'm sorry… but that made no sense. What are nerves, and what about bas...bassofill? And most importantly of all, why did you have to make me a dragon? You said you can bring me back to life, why not omit the 'Turn-Hiccup-into-a-dragon' and do that?"

"Excellent question!" Great, now Torin was in one of his teaching moods. "Now, first, if I were to simply restart your heart right away, you would not have had enough blood to survive. You'd lost too much from that axe, so immediately reviving you is out of the question. As for the dragon part, if I were to simply add Toothless' blood into your bloodstream without you having the necessary antigens, or lack thereof, your body would hav-"

"Can you please put this in plain, simple to understand Norse?"

"Actually, your not speaking Norse anymore, but that's beside the point. In simple terms, Toothless' blood would have killed you if you weren't a dragon."

"So the only solution was to turn me into a dragon?"

"More or less."

Hiccup frowned. While it would have been nice to stay human, he would rather live. Other questions came to mind, but there was one in particular he wanted to ask.

"Torin, what exactly is the shot limit of a Night Fury?"

"Ah, this is were it gets interesting! The shot limit varies, and it depends on three main factors. The first is the diet. Basically, the more you eat, the more you have to react, and the higher your shot limit. The second is age, and ties into the first. If you're older, you naturally have a larger stomach, so you can eat more. The third is most peculiar though. Night Furies, in times of great need, can destroy their own bodies for more sho-"

Hiccup recoiled away from Torin, shouting, "WHAT!?"

"Calm down, the Night Fury has to consciously do it. Toothless hasn't taught you it yet, and it's not a complete destruction. The Night Fury can tell their bodies monocytes to eat their own cel-"

"Basic language."

"Right, think of the monocytes as the bodies bottomless pits. They eat foreign objects that get into the body. However, as I was saying, the Night Fury can redirect these to eat their own cell… body, and release the necessary ingredients to create a plasma blast."

Hiccup scrunched up his face. "How do you know all this stuff?"

"Us dragons have been around a lot longer than you humans. In that time, we've discovered a lot, about ourselves, the world around us and, recently, humans."

"You… you've been studying us?"

"Yes, for as long as there's been human-dragon contact, hostile or not. Occasionally we send Changewings into a village to observe human interactions and behavior, and when we find a dead human we often cut it open to observe the inner workings and… Hiccup? What are yo-Oh dear, I may have gone too far with my explanation."

Hiccup rubbed the remains of his now near-nonexistent breakfast off some leaves. "Yeah… it's slightly disturbing, to think that you've been studying us and we've never known it. Not to mention the fact that you… you know…"

"Cut you open?"

"Yeah… let's not talk about that again."

Silence returned, hundreds of questions running through Hiccup's head. His thirst for knowledge was teased, and now he wanted to know more.

"Hey Torin, where are Night Furie-"

The rest of the sentence was drowned out by a loud, sorrow-filled roar. Torin hardly deigned to raise his head. "That would be Toothless. Are you ready to go back to him?"

Hiccup looked down at the ground. He would have to face Toothless sometime, and the sooner they got this over with, the better. "Sure, lead the way."

-YayForUnderstandings!-

The trip back was silent, Torin leading the way towards the cave. Hiccup felt anxiety well up inside him. The only other time he had this feeling was during their first couple of meetings. When they finally reached the cave entrance, Toothless was franticly pacing in front of the entrance. Hiccup halted, doubts assaulting his mind. What if they got into another argument? Would their friendship be over? Torin, meanwhile, nonchalantly walked towards Toothless, stating, "You know, I'd rather not have a giant rut at the entrance of my cave."

Toothless whirled around to face Torin, quickly asking, "Where's Hiccup? Is he..." Toothless trailed off as he saw Hiccup near the edge of the forest. Hiccup nervously approached Toothless, not sure what to do. Hiccup would've sworn that he could feel the fragile ground their relationship was standing on. If either of them made one wrong move, the entire thing would vanish.

Hiccup glanced at the worried eyes of his friend, apprehensively approaching. "Hey Toothless. I'm... sorry. I know I probably scared you half to death, and you were most likely about to kill me, but, well, you know... it's been hard, adjusting to these changes." Hiccup was about to say more, but was interrupted as his friend tackled him to the ground. Hiccup's eyes instinctively shut, not wanting to see his friend observe _his_ inner workings. After a couple of seconds, his eyes snapped open as a wet, slimy appendage slid across his face. He saw Toothless above him, a gummy grin on his face and his tongue lolling out.

Hiccup stared up at Toothless, before exploding into hysterics. That simple act that was so, completely... Toothless, helped strengthen the weakened friendship. Toothless stepped off Hiccup, allowing him to get up. "I should be the one who's sorry. I overreacted, and you were right; I have been a bit overprotective. I was scared, I guess. Nearly every dragon falls during their first flight, and with you being...well, you, I was worried something was going to go tragically wrong."

Hiccup rose to his feet as well. "So, we both agree never to do anything like that again?"

"Yes."

Torin, seeing the problem was resolved, happily walked over. "So, how about some dinner?"

Hiccup glanced at Toothless, who nodded. "Alright, so what should we have?"

Toothless pounced on the opportunity, "I vote cod!"

"Come on, you always want cod, what about some rabbit?"

"They're too fast!"

"Deer?"

"Too stringy."

"You're insuperable."

"I really am, aren't I?"

"Why is it always cod?"

"It's perfect, besides, if we go for cod, we can go flying!"

"That...That's blackmail!"

"Flyyyinggggg!"

Hiccup smirked, "Alright, first to get a cod, wins. ReadysetGO!"

"Hey! Come back here!"

Torin grinned as he watched the two playfully fight, trying to throw the other off course of whatever fish they may have spotted. But while they were fighting... Torin glanced at his talons, noting with satisfaction that he did, indeed, have a cod there.

* * *

**(1): DNA, although I decided to keep most of the other science stuff the same. However, unlike last time, not all of it's true. Histamine and heparin do the functions listed in the story, but it's for inflammatory purposes. Also, think of the Ripped Wing's acid like a virus. However, instead of forcing the host cell to produce copies of its RNA, it destroys the nucleus, picks up the DNA, and leaves the cell to die. If it finds an empty cell, it injects the DNA into the cell. However, the DNA won't be perfect, because there would be remnants of the acid, and if the acid is diluted with anything then it won't completely kill the cell... I could go on about this all day. Final science note, monocytes are phagocytes, so they do eat foreign debris, however I do not think they release the nutrients from it. They might, because of the Conservation of Matter, but I ran out of time to study that so as of right now I do not know.**

**Fun fact, this chapter steals the title of longest chapter, beating the previous one by a whopping 500 or so words! WOW!**

**Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and there will be another one next week!**


	11. Insight

**First off, I want to apologize. This chapter is going to be short, mostly because my sister was moving and helping her cut into my writing time a lot. I promise next week's chapter will be longer! And more interesting... :D**

* * *

Astrid growled, throwing another rock into the lake. What was it with Hiccup? Recently, he's been making her feel guilty no matter what she tried to do. Astrid glanced at the journal thrown against the wall. She had stopped reading near the end, not being able to take too much more of his story. But she had promised herself. She vowed that she would read, find out what she could, and finish Hiccup's work. Throwing the last rock in her hand against the wall, Astrid walked over and picked the book up. No more use in procrastinating.

{IntoJournalWorld!}

A 6 year old Hiccup squealed in delight, running through the village with a big smile on his face. In Berk, news travelled fast, but none as fast as this particular piece of information. One of the lookouts had just reported that Trader Johann was on his way! Ever since Hiccup learned what those words implied, he was always listening for them. Hiccup narrowly avoided running into a person, and shot through the gate separating the village from the docks. Hiccup skidded to a halt at the edge of the first walkway, and looked towards the sea. And there he was. Standing proudly at the bow of his ship, his simple, unadorned sail waving behind him. Trader Johann.

Hiccup took off, grimacing as he looked down at the docks. He, of course, was one of the last to be told, and most of the village was already waiting. Hiccup jumped down from one walkway to the next, ignoring the pain in his legs in his eagerness to get down there as quickly as possible. Stopping momentarily, Hiccup groaned as he saw Trader Johann pull in to the docks. At this rate, everything would be gone by the time he got down there. Glancing around, he failed to find anything that could help him.

Everything seemed to be going against him. Hiccup lowered his head into his hands, sitting down on the platform as he felt a small wetness in his eyes. He just had to be faster. If he was better, this would never have happened. If he was stronger, people would like him more. If he was more of a Viking, like his father, he'd be one of the first people to know, and not have to rely on Gobber or occasionally Fishlegs for tidbits of information.

Hiccup sniffled slightly, planting his hands against the wooden structure. He couldn't cry. Vikings were tough. And tough people don't cry. This would be his first step to show them how tough he really was. Pushing himself up, Hiccup took off again, adrenaline and determination fueling him on. His mind started working, analyzing, and trying to figure out the quickest way to get down.

_Jump._

Hiccup leaped off of one platform, letting out a slight gasp as his feet collided with the immovable surface of the next platform. Pain shot up his legs, and he fell to the ground. He shoved the pain to a remote corner of his mind, picked himself up, and started running again.

_Left._

Hiccup ran around the corner, nearly falling over as his mind realized too late that the wood seemed a little too shiny. His eyes connected with the overturned bucket as he sailed towards the edge, helpless to stop himself. A strangled cry escaped him as his feet no longer felt the surface, his arms reaching out in a desperate attempt to save himself from the fall.

_Reach._

Just a little more…

His hands latched onto one of the supports, which were thankfully dry. A strangled, pain-filled cry escaped him as his arms took the weight of his body, and he went from falling to swinging.

Straight for the support.

Another cry left him, as his head collided with the wooden beam. His body followed shortly after, and he would have yelled again if the blow hadn't knocked the air out of his lungs. His legs followed shortly after, and Hiccup could only moan in pain. Hiccup glanced at his arms, which were already burning from the strain of holding himself up. Hiccup moved his feet against the beam, trying to get a foothold and pull himself up. Upon failing, Hiccup rolled his eyes. Against his better judgement, Hiccup glanced down. Below, he could see the dark blue of the water. If he were to fall into it from this height, he'd break most of his bones at best. At worst…

Hiccup looked around, distracting himself before that thought could progress any further. Right now he needed to focus on a way to get out of this situation without causing serious bodily harm. And that was when he saw the walkway, down below, sharing the same support as the one he was hanging onto. Biting his lower lip, Hiccup wrapped his legs around the pole. He moved his hands down, and then moved his legs. Slowly, he started to shimmy down the beam. Ironically, this route was much faster than running full throttle along the platforms, and so the second Hiccup was on the walkway he covered the short distance to Trader Johann's ship in no time.

As usual, Trader Johann had impressed him yet again. There was everything a Viking, even a Hiccup, could need or want. Maces, swords, plants, food, spices, and is personal favorite, books. And because of this, that was the first thing Hiccup went for. Not many Vikings were interested in the books, but a few were. The only other Viking who came close to his insatiable appetite for reading was Fishlegs, who had, thankfully, not arrived yet. If he failed to get here before Fishlegs, Hiccup wasn't sure there would be any books left.

Hiccup's eyes danced across the titles, ranging from _The Fine Art of Cooking_ to _Bloodbath: How to be more efficient in battle_.

"Ah, Hiccup! How have you been, my dear friend?"

Hiccup identified the voice immediately, turning around and responding, "Great, Trader Johann! Where've you been?"

"Many places, my dear friend, and along those trips I've collected many things as well! For example, this book!"

Hiccup glanced down at the plain, brown book Trader Johann was now holding. Hiccup frowned. "There's no title. What's it about?"

"This is a journal, Hiccup. Here, you can write all your thoughts, dreams, and adventures. These pages are just waiting to be filled!"

The idea certainly appealed to Hiccup, as was apparent from his grin. "What do you want for it? I have… uhh…" Hiccup frantically searched his pockets, hoping to find something he could give Trader Johann in exchange for this wonderful gift. However, all he found was a handful of flowers. Hiccup's face turned a deep red. "Sorry, Trader Johann, I don't have anything but this."

"That's fine, my dear Hiccup! Maybe this is a rare, exotic flower that's highly sought after in one of the islands I visit!"

The red vanished, replaced by a joyous smile. "So you'll take it?"

"Of course, Hiccup!"

Hiccup laughed, hugging Trader Johann. "Thanks a lot!"

"Any time, Hiccup, any time!"

{IntoTheRealWorld}

Gobber glanced down at the leather book in his hands. His brow furrowed in thought. What Stoick said couldn't have been true. Yet, the Chief had never lied to him, or any of the villagers. So why would he lie now? Gobber glanced down at the book again. There really only was one way to find out. Gobber sat down in his chair, and opened the book to the beginning, bracing himself for what might come.

{OrIsThisTheRealWorld?}

Two bright green eyes peered out from behind a rock. The orbs of light disappeared as a slightly older Hiccup hid again. His father had recently heard about his most recent accident, and apparently nearly burning down the docks was a lot more serious than last week's incident of nearly burning down half the village. His father often commented that Hiccup and fire did not go well together, and despite his father's best attempts to withhold him from any source of it, he still managed to get his hands on it. Needless to say, it never ended well.

Glancing around the rock again, Hiccup barely stifled a shriek when he saw his father. Looking right at him.

"Hiccup, come here right now."

His fathers voice was level, meaning he was in a lot more trouble than he thought. Hiccup briefly considered running, but that thought was dismissed immediately. While Hiccup was fast, he wasn't as fast as his father could be. Which often surprised him, considering his bulk. With his shoulders slumped, Hiccup came out from behind the rock.

"Yes, dad?"

"Hiccup, do you know what's happening today?"

The seemingly random question caught Hiccup off-guard. To his knowledge, it was a normal Thor's Day, just like last week. "Er, no. What's today?"

"Today, the Berserker tribe is visiting us."

Oh, that would explain why. Every year, the Berserker tribe would visit to renew a treaty. Considering Berk had cliffs on nearly every side, burning down the docks would mean no treaty. Which often meant war.

"Sorry for nearly burning down the docks."

Stoick glanced at his son, before placing his head in his hands, sighing softly. "That's not all."

"It's not?"

"No. How old are you, Hiccup?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Really, dad? You forgo-"

"How old are you?"

It was now Hiccup's turn to sigh. "6."

"Which means this year, you'll be showing Oswald and his son, Dagur, around the village with me."

"Wait, so I get to meet another heir?"

"Yes."

Hiccup had gone from wary to excited immediately. Another heir meant someone he could relate to. While it may just be on status, it was something.

"When are they arriving?"

A long, deep sound echoed throughout the island, interrupting their conversation.

"That would be them. Come on son, time to meet the Berserkers."

* * *

**Now I can do MORE evil stuff to Hiccup! I'm bad, aren't I? Not too much to say, other than I want to apologize again for how incredibly short this chapter is. Maybe I'll treat you guys to an extra long chapter next week!**

**Anyways, until next time!**


	12. Journey

**I swear, taking a writing course really makes you notice things that you've never noticed before. For example, I indirectly quoted the script of 'Pride and Prejudice' that we used for the school play in Chapter 10. Bonus point for those who spot it!**

**Also, I quoted 2 lines from an Owl City song in this chapter, and probably the most famous line from The Wizard of Oz. More bonus points!**

**And to cut down on my review-responses, I'll respond only to reviews that I can actually respond to. :P**

**Guest 4/29/13: Good idea, although I already have an idea of how Hiccup is going to get back into the village. Part of your guess is correct though!**

**Booknerd39: Nope, I've decided the transformation is a one-way thing. Maybe in another story though!**

**Comet Moon: Correct, he's staying dragon!**

**Bluebird42: Hooray! Now there is a button for the next chapter! Not on this one, though. But next week there will be. As for the science, since Torin is the main know-all person, the explanations will be in the bottom AN. And I didn't think of it off the top of my head either, it took a couple days research.**

**Guest 5/7/13: Yes he will!**

**Anyways, enjoy this week's 3,000 word, 6 page chapter!**

* * *

A young doe trotted through the forest, the sound of fallen leaves crunching beneath the hooves echoing throughout the otherwise ominously silent forest. The doe cautiously paused, sniffing the air, before lowering its head with the same hesitant wariness. The light fought its way through the dense leaves, shining some of its light on the speckled white coat of the doe. The sound of crackling leaves brought the doe to a halt. Its ears twitched, trying to catch another hint of a sound. A black blur momentarily caught the doe's attention, before its neck was snapped as a heavy mass slammed into it.

"Ew, ew, I think it touched me."

"I think its offended. Oh wait… it's alive!"

Hiccup squealed as the liver was thrown on him, quickly followed by a piece of the intestine. "Dear gods, stop!"

Toothless chuckled, returning his attention to the doe. "I'll never understand your aversion to the insides of an animal."

"It's just the thought that this was a living animal."

"Says the person who killed it."

"We need to live, right?"

"Correction: We need to eat to live. And that means eating this." Toothless raised his head as a piece of the stomach hung out of his mouth. With an obnoxiously loud slurp, he sucked it into his mouth. "Juicy!"

Hiccup poked the piece of intestine, wincing slightly at the sound it made. "Urk… I'm starting to understand why you like fish."

"And it only took, how long have we been together?"

"A couple of months I think… I have no idea. It seems like yesterday I tried to draw you."

"Which I still think was incredibly stupid."

"And I still agree."

The conversation ground to a halt, Hiccup haltingly eating, while Toothless had his entire muzzle in the carcass. At this rate, of course, Toothless finished the doe as Hiccup finished his (small) portion. Toothless glanced at Hiccup, liking his muzzle clean of the blood and small pieces of meat.

"Alright, fess up, what's been bothering you."

"Huh? Nothing, everything's fine, just great. I've never felt better."

"Well now I know something's wrong. Tell me."

"I told you, I'm fine."

Toothless gave Hiccup his best 'I-don't-belive-you-and-I-know-you're-hiding-somet hing' look. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Fine, you nosy thing."

More silence.

"Hiccup?"

"Well… Toothless, I can't stop thinking about Berk."

Toothless recoiled at the mention of Berk, his eyes narrowing as memories that were best left untouched came to life. "Why are you thinking about that cursed place?"

"Ever since I met you, I've realized dragons were intelligent. But now that I actually _am_ one, I'm only just realizing exactly how rational you are. You have a civilization, a pecking order, you have healers like Torin, heck, you guys have a more advanced understanding of the world than we do! If dragons had hands to create things with, you'd be an unstoppable force!"

"And this all leads to Berk how?"

"Think about it, Toothless. Humans and dragons have fought since gods know when-"

"About 630 years."

"Yeah, tha… wait, 630?"

"Vikings weren't the first people around, you know."

"Ok, but that's besides the point. We're still fighting, and thousands of dragons and humans are getting killed. We think that dragons are mindless, bloodthirsty beasts and you guys think we're…"

"Annoying furless demons from the pits of Hel?"

"Well that's a bit extreme don't you think?"

"I was exaggerating. Most dragons refer to you just as 'those idiotic little 2-legged gnats'.

"Ok, but back to what I was saying, we need to stop it."

Toothless cocked his head slightly. "Hiccup, do you realize what you're trying to do?"

"Cease a 630 year war that both sides have no intention of stopping?"

"Yep."

"In that case, yes, I do. But we need to at least try Toothless! I can't just sit here on this island and do nothing!"

"Hiccup, we'll leave soon, but stopping that war is impossible! Humans have despised dragons ever since we've shown ourselves to them. There is no exception," Toothless paused, then muttered, "…except one."

Hiccup cast his eyes to the ground, before his ears perked up. "Wait, one?"

"I knew I shouldn't have mentioned that."

"Where?"

"It's in a really distant land. The natives call it _zhong guo_, but other people call it 'China'."

"If we visit them, maybe they can help us stop the war? If they managed to stop it-"

"And that's where the problem lies. They never had a war."

"But still, if we could get them to come over here, they could-"

"Did I mention it would take a couple months just to get there? Then take into account the amount of time it would take to understand their completely different language, get them to trust us, and then spend 2 more months travelling back."

Hiccup was startled, and his rational mind took the opportunity to make him see how unrealistic it would be to travel there. "Ok, so we can't go to China, but we can still try here!"

"No, Hiccup!" Toothless growled. He was rapidly nearing the end of his patience. "This is a suicide mission. If the humans don't kill you on first sight, the dragons will for suggesting such an incredibly stupid idea!"

"Toothless, we just have to do something similar to when we first met! We just need someone to go out alone,"

"Without their weapon, sneak up on them without them running away, let them get away, and then pray they don't bring the entire village back with them."

Hiccup was running out of ideas. Toothless was right on every account. The chances of a Viking going out unarmed were as small as Loki becoming an honest, respectable God. Wait a second…

"Toothless!"

"Are you still going on about that idea?"

"Yes, but what if we started at a different island? One that wasn't so against dragons?"

"In other words, a land not inhabited by Vikings or some other anti-dragon people?"

"Yeah!"

"No chance of that either. Apparently, outside of the Viking lands, there's a religion called 'Christianity'. Almost everyone believes it, and the people who do regard dragons as a form of the 'Devil', which is the ultimate form of evil. They even have special dragon killers, called 'Knights'. If you wanted to find a place not affected by this religion, it would take as long as going to China."

Hiccup was beside himself, pacing frantically as his tail swung behind him. "So in other words the only chance we have of ending this war quickly is to take our chances with Berk?"

"No Hiccup, we are not going back."

Hiccup huffed, looking down. "Fine. Can we at least leave this island soon?"

"…Tomorrow, we'll leave. In the meantime, we need to work on your fighting. We're going to go to our Nest, and you need to know how to handle yourself."

As Toothless turned around to go to their practice clearing, he didn't see the small grin that passed across Hiccup's face.

{EvilHiccup?}

The rest of the day was devoted to fighting. Hiccup vastly improved in his ability to defend himself, but he was still horrendous at actually attacking. He claimed it was because he didn't want to hurt Toothless, who then proceeded to pin him down and poke fun at him while Hiccup tried to throw him off.

Torin had collected dinner for them, and, much to Hiccup's relief, it was fish. They had informed Torin of their plans, who had then proceeded to stuff them as full as he could with fish. Of course, morning seemed to take its sweet time. The instant the suns rays chased away the darkness, Hiccup was practically bouncing on Toothless.

"Wake up you lazy sack of scales!"

"Ugh, we'll leave later."

"You know you're the one who always says that the sooner we get up, the sooner we get stuff done."

"Yes, well, next time I say that, you have my permission to slap me."

"Come onnn Toothless!" Hiccup whined. When Toothless didn't respond, Hiccup crouched down, grinning wickedly. "Ohhh Toothless!" Hiccup sang as sweetly as he could.

Toothless peered through one eye, curious at the sudden change in attitude. When he saw Hiccup crouched down, he rolled over. "Pounce and you're a dead dragon."

Hiccup frowned, standing back up. He trotted over to the pile of fish Torin had laid out for their breakfast and threw one at Toothless. Toothless hardly moved, and the fish slowly slid off his head, leaving a trail of slime behind.

"Come on, you're never this lazy when I sleep in!"

"Like I said, you have my permission to slap me next time that happens."

"I'm running out of ideas to wake you up!"

"Good."

Grumbling to himself, Hiccup started to eat the fish. "You know, there'll be no fish left for you if you don't get up."

Toothless heaved himself up, and slowly made his way to the pile of fish, tail dragging in the dirt behind him.

"It's a miracle! The lazy one awakens!"

Toothless shot Hiccup another glare, but ended up rolling his eyes.

Breakfast was quick, thanks to Hiccup's urging, and shortly afterwards they were off.

{We'reOffToSeeTheWizard!}

Hiccup was ecstatic to say the least. He was doing flips through the cold air, letting out whoops of joy. Toothless didn't join him, however he watched the tricks with a grin. When they arrived at Dragon Island, Hiccup would be feeling the consequences of his current actions. Or it may be as soon as halfway there. It all depended on how well the weather would cooperate; Not At All, Blown Off Course or Haha You're Screwed.

And it was as such that, come midday, Hiccup was lagging behind.

"Come on, we have to get there by sundown!"

"Yeah, although… can we take a break at the next piece of land we find?"

"I don't know. I mean, I'm pretty eager to get there, you know. I might bug you the entire time you're trying to rest."

"I said I was sorry."

Toothless chuckled, finally deciding to stop tormenting Hiccup. "Alright, next land we see, we'll stop at."

Of course, with the duo's luck, they didn't come across a landmass until it was late in the day. And, with a dash of misfortune, it was Berk.

"No."

"Toothless, you promised!"

"I am NOT going down there."

"We can stay on the far side of the island."

"I still don't trust that place."

"We'll stay hidden, and it's only for an hour or so."

Toothless frowned, mulling it over. "Fine, but you have to stay within my view the entire time."

Hiccup let out a quiet whoop of joy, pulling his wings together and entering into a dive. Toothless followed, allowing the wind to sweep his worries away as he chased after Hiccup. With a look behind him and a taunting look on his face, Hiccup slightly opened his wings, entering the maze of trees. He could hear Toothless behind him, easily keeping pace with him. A risky move suddenly popped into his head, and with reckless abandon, Hiccup flared open his wings just as he turned a corner, pulling into a stop almost instantly. He then closed them just as quickly, allowing himself to fall. He saw a black blur shoot above him and grinned as the flaps slowed down.

"Hiccup?"

Said dragon was moving silently through the trees. His paws stepped over the twigs, treading softly on the forest floor. Toothless was in the center of a clearing. He looked around, calling out again, "Hiccup?"

_Now._

Hiccup leapt from the cover of the trees while Toothless' back was turned. Hiccup smiled as he actually managed to knock Toothless over. Toothless had quickly identified it was Hiccup, and stopped himself from fully retaliating, instead rolling onto his back and letting his larger weight pin Hiccup. Only when Toothless was almost on top of him did Hiccup realize that he hadn't actually knocked him over, but that Toothless had let himself get pushed. And by then it was too late.

"Let me up!"

"We agreed that you'd stay within my sight, remember?"

"Oh come on! I came back!"

"Nope, you must suffer the consequences!"

Hiccup was about to respond, when the sound of a twig snapping interrupted them. A voice muttering to itself quickly followed. Toothless was on high alert the second the twig snapped.

"_Get up!"_ Toothless hissed, rolling off of Hiccup and running for the cover of the trees. Hiccup was right behind him, scrambling up a tree at the first opportunity he got. Hiccup tried to still his pounding heart, watching the clearing with fearful eyes. The voice got louder, and a blonde emerged from among the trees. Hiccup's heart went into overtime as he recognized the person.

Astrid.

The urge to run away almost got the better of him, although Hiccup was pretty sure he was shaking at this point. Astrid continued into the center of the clearing, before lying down on the ground. She lay there, relaxed, completely unaware of another person, not 10 meters away, who was trying hard not to leap out of the tree and fly as far away as he could. Hiccup glanced about, hoping to find a way out of the tree, but Astrid was too quiet and too close. If he tried to get out of the tree, he'd be noticed. In other words, he'd have to wait here until Astrid left.

Hiccup peered through the leaves, watching Astrid. The initial fear he felt slowly dissipated, being replaced by confusion. Why was Astrid out here in the first place? Usually when she was out alone she was training. Astrid got up, and reached into a pack he hadn't noticed before. Out of it she pulled… a book? Since when did Astrid read?

Astrid looked at the cover a little, before opening it to read. The book seemed oddly familiar. Familiar on the nice level, as if he had seen it every day. But he couldn't remember where he saw it. Was it the Book of Dragons? No, it was too small. What about…

His attention was drawn to some shadows moving and the sound of twigs snapping. Astrid slammed to book shut, throwing it to the ground and taking out her axe.

The axe.

It wasn't the same axe that killed him. That was lost at sea when Toothless had taken it out. But it was strikingly similar. The same double sided, curved blade. The same handle. However, it was much newer. Much shinier. It brought back memories, if they could be called such. Hiccup would rather call them nightmares.

More twigs snapped, and Astrid picked up the book, stuffed into the pack, and put it on her back. With another glance around, she started to back away from the source of the sound. Once she was out of sight, Hiccup could hear her break into a run. Toothless emerged from the trees.

"Hiccup? Hiccup? Where are you?"

"H…here…" Hiccup muttered. The axe was still fixated in his mind. He could easily imagine it swinging through the air, sharp enough to cut through his scales, maybe even go clear cut through his body.

"HICCUP!" Toothless shouted.

"Yeah, I'm here." Hiccup repeated.

"Snap out of it!"

Hiccup felt his head being slapped. Probably by Toothless' tail. That was the most flexible part of a dragon. It was also the weakest. Any damage to it and it wouldn't be able to fly. From there, it's easy to track it and ambush it. A downed dragon is a dead dragon, after all.

Hiccup felt another slap, this time knocking him out of the tree. It was actually kind of stupid of him to climb up there. There was only one entrance and exit, seeing as the surrounding trees prevented going up into the sky. But he could always glide into the cleari-

"OW!" Hiccup cried as his head collided into the ground. It wasn't a pleasant way to land, it really wasn't.

"Hiccup? Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"I told you coming to Berk wasn't a good idea. Come on, we need to get moving. We've had a long enough break, and after that close encounter I have no desire of staying here any longer."

"Alright." Hiccup rubbed his head, wincing as he felt more pain. "Ok, let's go."

Toothless quickly took off. Hiccup glanced around the clearing. There was something else that was bothering him…

"Hiccup! Come on!"

"Coming!" Hiccup replied. It could wait till later, he decided as he spread his wings and took to the sky.

* * *

**Yes, 6 pages in Word. Single spaced.**

**Anyways, this week is review week, and next week are the finals. However, contrary to most people, this actually allows for some more time. We can go home early if we don't have any other tests that day, and in between tests we (technically aren't allowed, but still) can have our phones out, meaning more writing time! Joy!**

**Anyways, see you next week!**


	13. Histories

**Alright! I'm back in buisness! Here's my incredibly long chapter that I promised!**

**johnnylee619 (5/12): Well, if Astrid saw Hiccup then, I bet she'd try and kill him. But you'll just have to wait for that!**

**Bluebird42: I'm not sure why you're curious about the axe, but OK! Anyways, since last-last week was review week, I'm assuming last week was finals week, so hope you did well!**

**Jarjaxle: Well, it was originally called the 'Dark Ages' for a reason. That time was pretty bloody all around.**

**johnnylee619 (5/19): That review made me feel a lot less bad about not getting the chapter out on time! Thanks!**

**Esteban: Yay! :D**

**So enjoy this week's extra-long chapter!**

* * *

Gobber leaned back in his chair, absentmindedly stroking the cover of the book. Gobber didn't usually think on what he read, but this wasn't what he usually read. To read about his apprentice's secret life with a dragon was… almost impossible to believe. If Gobber hadn't seen the dragon's actions when Hiccup was killed, he would have dismissed it the minute it mentioned 'Toothless'. Of course, Gobber had seen the dragon stop anyone from approaching Hiccup, and had also seen that same dragon fly off with the dying body of Stoick's son.

Which brought Gobber to his next question. He could understand the teen not telling his peers, or even his father, but why keep it from him? Gobber had cared for the boy, and even stepped in when Stoick didn't do a thing.

Gobber's question was soon answered as he looked around his room. Adorned on the walls were the teeth of nearly every dragon he had killed. Gobber used to be one of the best fighters Berk had. Then, he had lost his arm. Not soon after, another dragon went for his leg.

Astrid burst into the room, panting heavily as sweat covered her. Gobber quickly rose from his seat, stuffing the book into his vest.

"Dear Thor, Astrid, what happened?"

Astrid wiped the sweat from her brow, setting her axe down on a table.

"Went out, heard sound, and then…"

Gobber raised a hand. "Let me get you some mead. You look like you could use it."

While Gobber retrieved a wooden cup and poured some mead in, Astrid sat down at the table. Gobber handed Astrid the mead, and sat down opposite her. "Drink first, then tell me what's got you so worked up."

Astrid greedily drank from the cup, downing it all in a single go.

"So, lass, tell me what you heard."

"I went out into the forest, to train. I was just finishing up when I heard the twigs start to snap, one right after another. Every now and then there was a really deep, threatening growl as well. It surprised me, so I ran. After waiting a while, I went back. The creature was gone, but it left footprints. Big, dragon-sized footprints."

"So you think there's a dragon in the woods?"

"That's where the problem is. The footprints didn't look like any dragon's that I've seen before."

"Lass, you're inexperienced, and haven't gone through Dragon Training yet."

"Having Fishlegs as one of your peers makes you know a lot about dragons."

Gobber looked at Astrid for a bit, before relenting. "Alright, I'll bring it up with Stoick after I see it for myself. Show me the way."

* * *

The majority of the remaining hour was made in silence. Hiccup was still recovering from the very unpleasant experience of seeing Astrid again, and Toothless knew Hiccup needed time to think.

"Look, Hiccup! That's the Nest!"

Hiccup glanced to where Toothless was looking. "Wait, that's the Nest?"

On the horizon sat a long, black strip, its features indistinguishable.

"Yep, where every dragon goes to lay their eggs, and some even live there year-round!"

"I thought the Nest was in the giant wall of fog, off to the north-west."

Toothless paused momentarily, replying, "No, that's not the Nest."

Hiccup gave Toothless a strange look, confused with the pause. "What is behind there?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." Toothless replied.

Hiccup relented, knowing that when Toothless wanted to keep a secret, it was going to stay a secret.

The pair fell back into silence, and the sun was nearing the horizon behind them when they finally arrived.

"Gods it feels good to rest my wings." Hiccup groaned, falling to the ground. He had to admit; the dragons chose a great spot for their Nest. The water was a wonderful aquamarine that was shallow enough for any hatchlings, and the weather was a great temperature. The only problem Hiccup could spot were holes around the island, filled with water. They appeared to be deep, and Hiccup wondered if any of the dragons had fallen in.

"Get up, we're not done yet."

"Really? What else do we have to do?"

"Well, we need a cave. You know, in case it rains."

"Fine, I'm up."

"Quick, follow me. I'm as tired as you are."

Hiccup trailed behind Toothless. His mind started drifting off and his eyes drooped a little. He continued walking, and didn't notice Toothless abruptly coming to a stop.

"OW, OW, my nose!"

"Well, that certainly woke you up."

Still rubbing his nose with a paw, Hiccup muttered, "Useless reptile."

Toothless didn't hear, or didn't care, and was now searching the side of a small hill. "It should be here somewhere."

"Seireadan!"

Toothless' head jerked to the left, and was just as quickly knocked back to the right as a golden figure slammed into him. Toothless was almost immediately subdued, and the other dragon stood on top. It looked just like a classic dragon; four legs, two wings, a long serpentine tail, but all a bright, golden color. The dragon stood on top of Toothless, one paw slightly forward and head thrown back as if he'd just conquered the world.

"Going off for a few months and I can still beat you!"

Toothless chuckled. "Good to see you too, Selyv."

Selyv jumped off. "So, how've you been? Where did you go anyways?"

"Still as hyperactive as ever, I see."

"And who's the new guy?"

Toothless trotted over to Hiccup. "This is Hiccup, a great friend I've come across."

Selyv turned his head slightly, regarding Hiccup with one eye like a Nadder. "Hiccup, huh? Strange name. We should change it to something better. Like… Annstas!"

Toothless shook his head. "Nope."

"Éanna?"

"That's actually quite suitin-"

"Toothless?"

Selyv fell over, bursting into hysterics. "Toothless!? Oh, that's a good one!"

Toothless rolled his eyes. "Actually, that's what Hiccup here dubbed me."

Selyv looked up, his smile vanishing instantly. "You're joking, right?"

"Nope."

"But, what's wrong with Seireadan? It's a great name, and it suits you! I mean, a wild Night Fury, and… and…" Selyv trailed off at Toothless' unamused expression. "Fine, but I still don't like it."

"You'll warm up to it eventually!" Toothless smiled. Selyv returned it.

"So you're looking for your cave, I assume?"

"Yes, I could have sworn it was here."

"It was, but a human warring party stumbled across the island. There weren't too many of them, although they had this stone-throwing machine that collapsed part of the cave system. Now, to get to your cave, you have to go through the Hall."

"The Hall? You've got to be joking me."

"I'm as serious as you are about your silly name."

Toothless grumbled a little. "Great. Now I get to see all the people I wanted to leave behind."

Hiccup, who was feeling a little left out, perked up at this. Toothless had run away?

"Let's get this over with, then. Come on Hiccup." Hiccup nodded. The three of them walked around the side of the hill, and came across a large opening in the side of the hill.

"Wow, is this natural?"

"Some of it, the rest was carved out by a family of Whispering Deaths."

Hiccup momentarily stopped to admire the size of the opening. It looked like you could have two Nightmares fully stretched out and they would barely touch the ends. Hiccup looked back at Toothless and Selyv, and ran a little to catch up to them.

"So, how did you two meet?" Selyv asked.

Toothless and Hiccup shared a glance. There was a tacit agreement between them not to tell anyone of Hiccup's previous form.

"We met on a really cold island. It was more by chance than anything, and eventually we became friends." Toothless vaguely replied.

"There has to be something more! Some sort of excitement, adventure. It has to be more grand!"

"Nope, that's basically it."

"No death, sorrow, or betrayal?"

Hiccup winced at the words, and Toothless quickly answered, "No, sorry to disappoint you. Nothing."

Selyv's expression fell. "Now that's no fun. There's nothing to put in the Chronicles now. Just some boring travelling."

Hiccup interjected, "Wait, Chronicles, what?"

"Oh yes! The best part of the island is the Chronicles. In it, we put everything that's happened since we first arrived here! And even better, I've been chosen to be the next Naktar! Which means soon, I'll be keeping all the records!"

Toothless gave a small nod. "Wow, after all these years, you finally got it."

"Yep. Deirdre is getting older, so he finally passed on the honor to me."

"And what about the Council? Have they changed at all?"

Selyv winced. "Not at all. They still hate your guts, and still want nothing to do with you. It'll be… interesting to see how they react to you being here."

"Great. I was hoping Morrigan had been replaced by someone else."

"Nope, he's still the Leader."

Hiccup glanced at Toothless. "Ok, so far I'm lost. What's going on?"

Selyv stared at Toothless, open-mouthed, before nearly shouting, "You didn't tell him!?"

Toothless grumbled a little, muttering something that sounded like 'Not really'.

Selyv turned to Hiccup. "Well, as you know, behind the Mist Wall lies the Great Red, and-"

"Great Red?"

Selyv glared at Toothless a little more. "Really?"

"Yes, really, tell him the story."

"Alright, this is the story according to the Chronicles. About 460 years ago, dragons migrated up north, braving the cold. They found this paradise, and claimed it as their Nest. They lived in peace, until, 160 years afterwards, a group of humans sailed north as well. They brought with them tidings of death, war, and fear. They laid siege to our Nest. We fought back, keeping them at bay. But they numbers grew unbelievably fast. 30 years after the humans arrived, a dragon named Bres rose up. He was one of the last of the Zi Muansi dragons. Being the largest, he offered protection to the smaller dragons, and he instilled fear into the humans, pushing them back. Many dragons joined his cause, and he kept his promise and protected us.

"However, 240 years ago, Bres betrayed the dragons. When the dragons were assembled for a meeting, Bres rose up from the pits of his lair and went on a rampage. But, Bres was not out for blood. He smacked dragons into the walls, injuring them, and preventing as many dragons as he could from escaping. Once all the dragons that were able to escape were gone, Bres dragged the siblings, parents, and wives of the injured warriors into a cave, deep in the recesses of his pit. From then on, the dragons were forced to do what Bres ordered, or risk the death of the ones they hold dear. Ever since that day, he's been nicknamed the Great Red, as a symbol for all the blood that he has and will spill.

"As for the dragons that managed to escape, they returned to the Nest, and set up the colony. Bres has continued to attack the humans, and has even gained a few loyal followers since then. While we have remained here, offering a safe haven to any dragon that manages to escape Bres' wrath."

Hiccup was dumbfounded. "So all the attack's on ou… the human colonies were because of Bres?"

"Yes. No dragon under his command would dare to revolt. His followers are among the strongest warriors, but they all pale in comparison the size and strength of Bres."

"So what about Toothless' story?"

"Bres has not only been attacking the human villages, he has also been 'recruiting' forces. He lures dragons in with promises of safety, often using his followers to lure them in as well. Toothless' family was victim to one of these lures. 40 years ago, they were migrating north after the humans villages grew too close to their cave. They fled for safety, and the Great Red, of course, took advantage of this. Using his closest advisor, Aengus, he brought them into the pit. Bres struck quickly, grabbing Toothless' father while Aengus dived for Toothless. Toothless was able to evade the attack, but Aengus switched targets and brought down Toothless' mother. Toothless escaped, and managed to find our island.

"We helped him recover, and the second he was well he wanted to go out and rescue his parents. We managed to dissuade him, telling him we needed time. He cooperated with us for a while. But of course, Toothless wasn't too happy with what was happening around here. He saw no warriors being trained, no scouting parties, nothing to indicate we were going to do anything. Toothless went to the Council, asking them for permission to teach others how to fight. Morrigan, the Leader of the Council, denied the request, claiming that this Nest was established as a haven for refugees, not a war camp.

"Toothless wasn't satisfied, and asked the different Council members privately. He managed to get a few, such as Dagda, on his side, but the few he had were outnumbered by the many that followed Morrigan. After a couple years of trying to get permission for teaching, Toothless decided that he didn't need the Council's approval, and started to teach the dragons himself. Morrigan was outraged, and tried to stop Toothless. Of course, Toothless refused to, so Morrigan called for a Meeting of the Council, where the priority was the exile of Toothless.

"Needless to say, with Morrigan's many supporters, the vote was passed quickly. Toothless was forced off the island, and the classes stopped. That was all 34 years ago. Anything that happened after that, I have no knowledge of."

Selyv pointedly glared at Toothless, who finally relented. "After my exile, I decided that Selyv was right, and we needed time. Of course, not just time, but information. I started to find out everything I could about Bres, his nest, his followers, anything I could gather. Among the things I was told, I found out that Bres was ordering the attacks for food. A Zi Muansi grows in size as it eats more food. With the amount of food coming in, it was obvious Bres was preparing for an attack, on what I don't know, but on a size that could permanently wipe out the humans, or even the dragons if he wanted to do so.

"Of course, Bres had little sympathy for the dragons who were forced to follow his rule. If they failed to bring back enough food, they were eaten as a supplement to what they failed to gather.

"I started to help out in the raids on the village, destroying the stone-throwers. Without the stone-throwers, the humans had a much harder time preventing the dragons from stealing food. Bres, of course, thought I was helping him of my own volition. He sent his personal thanks to me, commenting on how 'I would see the truth sooner or later'. I was disgusted, but I used his trust against him. I snuck into the nest a few times, but I was always careful. I was never able to find the entrance to the hostage chamber, but I do know that it's very low, where Bres can constantly guard it. That's the extent of my knowledge."

Selyv was practically jumping with excitement. "Wow! What happened next?"

"Well… afterwards… I stayed on the island in Berk for a night. That was when I met Hiccup here. It was more of an accident than anything else. We were cautious of each other at first, but slowly we started to trust each other. After a while, I decided to bring him here so he could avoid the Great Red."

"There's going to be a few problems with that… First of all, you're exiled, so the instant Morrigan sees you, he'll chase you off this island. Second, because of that, you'll never see Hiccup again."

"I'll find a way to get through his thick skull."

"Well, now's your only chance. We're here."

As they rounded the final bend, Hiccup stared in awe. The Hall was aptly named. Its general shape was nothing more than a large hallway, with a slight curve as it neared the top. There were a few columns to support the roof, and scattered along the edges of the wall were tunnels, most likely leading to other caves. At the far end of the Hall sat three pedestals to the left, right, and above another massive tunnel that Hiccup could only guess at where it lead. Along the sides of the cavern were pieces of wood that were lit up, giving off a meager amount of light.

"Wow, the Whispering Death's made all this?"

Selyv grinned a little. "Well, like I said before, they helped, but most of this was natural. The only that's not natural here are the pedestals and tunnels.

Hiccup slowly walked behind Toothless, admiring the massive cavern. They passed by a few dragons, who at first gave only casual glances, but it wasn't long before the whispers started. The whispers evolved into cries of "Get the Council!" and "He's returned!"

Toothless and Selyv ignored these, making a beeline for the pedestals. Hiccup stalled a little, glancing at the various dragons, who all returned his gaze. When they had reached the end, three dragons swooped in from various tunnels, screeching as they did so. They gracefully landed on the pedestals, turning to face the trio.

The one on the right pedestal was a medium sized dragon, colored a deep blue. Its four legs were thin, and it had webbing between its claws. Its tail was long and slender, ending in a pair of fins that were similar in shape to that of a Night Fury's, but transparent. Its wings looked like a larger version of the fins on its tail. They were long, delicate-looking, and hardly seemed capable of keeping the dragon in the air. The beak on its face was curved, short, and sharp. Overall, it looked more suited to swimming in the water than flying in the air.

The dragon on the left pedestal held itself in a regal manner, its head high and wings slightly extended. It was almost a pure white, with heavily muscled legs and claws that seemed built for gripping and not tearing. It's wings were muscled as well, and its head was thick with a gently curve to it. Its tail and back were armored, but lacking any spines. It was a dragon that could easily outlast any opponent it went up against.

But the dragon on the top was the fiercest looking. It lacked the visible muscles the left one had, but it was sleek, its head having a windswept look, with long spines stretching out from the back of its head. Its wings were long and equipped with short claws at the ends. The tail it bore was slender, almost whip-like. This dragon was undoubtedly the fastest of the three.

The dragon on the top glared at Toothless, his eyes clearly showing his rage.

"Seireadan."

Toothless glared back with unbridled loathing.

"Morrigan."

Morrigan snorted. "I thought one as simple as you could grasp the general meaning of 'exile'. It meant you were never to return here."

The dragon on the left cut in. "I'm sure he knew what the Council meant. He wouldn't return without good reason." His voice was strong and commanding, ringing clearly throughout the entire Hall.

Morrigan threw a glance at the dragon, who stared defiantly back. "Ok then, Seireadan, tell us, why did you come back here?"

"First off, that's no longer my name. It's Toothless."

Morrigan let out a loud guffaw. "Stupid name for a stupid dragon."

The dragon on the left was quick to reprimand Morrigan. "Be quiet, and listen to what Seir- Toothless has to say." This dragons voice was lighter, smoother, and Hiccup identified the dragon as a woman. "Go on."

"Thank you, Miren. The reason I have returned here is to try and make amends. On my journey, I came across another dragon, called Hiccup." There were a few more laughs at this, but Toothless trudged on. "He helped me understand that what you said was right; we need more time to prepare. And I'm willing to wait."

Morrigan shook his head. "You misunderstand. This entire place was founded as a safe haven, a place where dragons can be free from the calamities of war."

"And what if Bres attacks?"

"If he wanted to attack, he would have done so already. The simple fact that he hasn't shows that he will continue to do what he has promised and wage his war on the humans."

"You don't understand! He hasn't been attacking the humans; he's been having them gather food! He might be the largest Zi Muansi on record right now, and the only explanation I can find is that he plans to go on a rampage, destruction on a larger scale than any that we've witnessed before."

"So he plans to wipe out the human race, then? I say we let him. Why would he attack us, after so many years of peace?"

Toothless stuttered for a moment, meekly ending with, "I don't know."

Morrigan hopped down from his pedestal, approaching Toothless. "Exactly. You don't know. And all this conversation has proved to me, is that you haven't changed at all. Your still stubborn, irrational, headstrong, foolish and above all, you fling accusations without an ounce of proof behind them. As such, I see no reason why I should allow you to stay."

"Morrigan," Miren pleaded.

"Thurkear Wiivai Toothless, your exile still stands. You must leave the island by nightfall, or you will be forcibly expelled."

The dragon on the left jumped down as well. "Morrigan, let him stay."

"Stay out of this, Dagda."

"He's my former student, and you expect me to not be concerned for him? If we were to exile him again, we'd be going against our principles. Like you said, we must provide a safe haven to dragons. And I believe Toothless has matured enough that we give him a second chance."

Morrigan let out a small growl, before conceding. "Ok, I will let him stay. But if he tries anything like last time, I will not hesitate to send you off again."

Morrigan spread his wings and shot off into one of the many tunnels. Hiccup watched him go.

"You made it sound like there were more people on the Council." He stated.

Selyv let out a small chuckle. "That wasn't the full Council. The entire Council consists of thirteen dragons of various species. However, out of those thirteen, three are appointed as the 'Tilabili'. They act an emergency Council, making decisions that require an immediate resolution. Those three are the ones you just saw: Miren, Dagda, and Morrigan."

Hiccup watched as Miren spread her delicate wings and somehow managed to fly off into the tunnels.

"Miren is a great dragon. She's level-headed, calm, and she's great at viewing a problem from both sides." Hiccup turned to see who was talking, and was slightly surprised to see Dagda walk up and join them. "However, she can sometimes let her emotions get the better of her. Myself, I cannot really say. It's often hard to find your own flaws. But Morrigan, I often wonder how he even got on the Council. He's rash, impulsive, and often makes decisions that favor him and the ones that follow him."

"Who elects people onto the Council?"

"The people on the Council choose who they want to succeed them. Personally, I think it's a flawed system, but I can't currently do anything."

Toothless answered the question before Hiccup could ask it. "Morrigan currently wields the most power, and for a change on that scale to occur, all it takes is one dragon to say no and it won't be passed."

Toothless was about to say something else, but a yawn interrupted him.

"Go get some sleep. You must have travelled far, and we can talk tomorrow."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow, Dagda."

"You as well, Toothless." Dagda grinned as he said the name.

Dagda spread his wings and took off as well. Selyv grinned. "Alright, Toothless, remember where your cave is?"

"Not really, no."

"Alright, I'll guide you." Selyv stretched out his wings and, with a small running start, took off. Toothless quickly followed, with Hiccup lagging behind.

"Alright, your cave is on the second row, fifth column! You can't miss it, it's the only one not lit!" Selyv called out.

Just before Toothless was about to dive into the cave, Hiccup called out, "Toothless! Wait!"

"What is it, Hiccup?"

"How do you expect me to navigate that? It's pitch black!"

Toothless blinked owlishly at Hiccup. "I never told you?"

"Told me what?"

Selyv chuckled. "Wow, a dragon that doesn't know its ace-in-the-hole. Priceless!"

Hiccup blushed a little, thankful that the scales hid it from sight. Toothless glanced apologetically at Hiccup. "Sorry. Each dragon has a special ability that only it can do. For the Night Fury's, we can send out waves of sound that reflect off objects and that our ears pick up, painting an image of what's ahead of us. This is especially useful in the dark. For the wave, you can simply let out a small roar, or any sound, and that'll work."

Hiccup glanced nervously at the cave. "Alright, let's try this."

Selyv cast one last grin at Hiccup, before swooping into the cave. Toothless let Hiccup go ahead of him, and Hiccup slowly flew into the cave, letting out a few roars along the way and noting that Selyv was somehow casting a small amount of light.

They managed to reach the cave without any injuries, which Hiccup was very thankful for, or collisions. The cave wasn't anything too fancy. It was simply a dome-like room with a small pool of water in the corner. On the opposite side was another piece of wood, also lit.

"Well, here's your cave. I don't think anybody's lived here since you've left, so everything should be as it was before."

"Thanks, Selyv. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Toothless and Hiccup!"

Selyv took off, quickly disappearing into the darkness, his glow quickly fading. Toothless trotted to a spot close the fire while Hiccup took stayed near the water. They both burned their beds and, without another word, slipped into a deep sleep.

* * *

**This chapter is where most of the characters are introduced, and most of the history is given. So I hope you read it carefully, because there's gonna be a pop-quiz on this! (Not really, I'm sick of tests and such)**

**Yes, Selyv does have bio-luminescence. Why? Because, honestly, I have no idea. I'll find a way for it to be important... somehow.**

**Also, I hope I did a good job at descriptions and painting the general morals of each character.**

**I'll see you next week...**

**AFTER MY RANT!**

**I mean seriously, the quality of the stories on this site have only gone down. And half the time, it's simply not pressing the Shift key! How hard is it to press one of the two buttons on your keyboard? And if you're on your phone, you should still press it!**

**That's one of my pet-peeves.**

**From your not-friendly-anymore-dragon,**

**TheDragon1326**


	14. Trouble and stuff

So, I recently started playing Wind-Waker again... and... that was a failed attempt at trying to divert your attention...

Tip #1: When an Author updates from his phone, that's never a good sign.

I hate to say this, but another delay. This on will (unfortunately) be indefinite.

Thankfully, it's not entirely my fault. Lately, my 4-year old Mac Laptop (that I may or may not have dropped a few times) has been making weird noises. And not the good kind of weird noises. If those exist...

It takes a couple seconds to even move the mouse, and I think my computers reached the end of its life.

GOOD NEWS: I will not stop writing the story! I will write on my phone, and because I can update through my phone, I'll keep working on it. Easier said than done, considering how tiny the buttons are... *poke poke*. Update times will be increased until I can get a new computer (or fix this one). In the meantime, I might as well answer some reviews.

xMightnightAurorax: Thanks! I also had a plot idea that will greatly increase the length of this story. No idea how many chapters it'll take, though.

Transmorphic Wyvern: What you said makes sense, and hopefully people will stop being so lazy. As for when the dragons will realize, I personally have no idea! The dragons will find out, though, and when they do it won't be pretty. Also, I would like to direct you to Riders of Berk: We Are Family Part 1. SPOILER ALERT: That's actually were it's revealed Night Furies can use echolocation. So it's not really my idea :(

Bluebird42: Thanks! For me, I almost got straight A's, if it weren't for my History classes (yes, classes, Church History and normal History). And you have quite a few favorite keys! :P

Butifull-golden-sunsets: Yes, that is integral to the little plot bunny I had!

mr abomination: That's a great idea! However, I can't really pay anybody, so they'd have to do it out of the kindness of their heart. The only thing I could do is pull up Blender, use the Toothless model I found, and put him in a pose. Not the greatest thing to do, however...

MiningSomeDiamonds: Surprisingly, nope! I only have a very general outline of what happens, so the specifics are still open for debate. Meaning that if anyone has any ideas, you could submit them and they might go in the story!

Ananymus: Thanks! I'll try to get that many out!

NightFuryOne: Thanks, I'm working on it!

Servanash: I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the luck!

Miles-tails-prowler: It's coming!

Ddragon21: I've always been a fan of the idea myself, but there are a few other exceptional ones out there! Like 'I Hear Him Scream' by Rift-Raft. But don't read his other stories, because they WILL make you cry... a lot.

Anyways, I'll work hard on getting that story out!


End file.
